EADING    THE 
WEATHER 


By-  T.  MORRIS  LGNGSTRETH 


READING  THE  WEATHER 


Courtesy  of  Richard  F.  Warren 

SHOWER  BEHIND  VALLEY  FORGE 


READING   THE 
WEATHER 


BY 
T.  MORRIS  LONGSTRETH 


ILLUSTRATED  WITH  PHOTOGRAPHS 

BY  RICHARD  F.  WARREN 


©UT'INC 


HANDBOOKS 


Number  43 


NEW  YORK 

OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

MCMXV 


Copyright,  1915,  by 
OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

All  rights  reserved. 


DEDICATED 

with  love,  to  my  grandmother 

MARY  GIBSON  HALDEMAN 

herself  responsible  for  so 
much  sunshine. 


324956 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

FORECAST        i 

I    OUR  WELL-ORDERED  ATMOSPHERE n 

II    THE  CLEAR  DAY 20 

III  THE  STORM  CYCLE 4* 

IV  SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS 64 

THE  CLOUDS 65 

THE  WINDS 76 

TEMPERATURES 86 

RAIN  AND  SNOW 99 

DEW  AND  FROST 112 

THE  THUNDERSTORM  EXPOSED 116 

THE  TORNADO 129 

THE  HURRICANE 133 

THE  CLOUDBURST 139 

THE  HALO 140 

V    THE  BAROMETER 147 

VI    THE   SEASONS 157 

VII    THE  WEATHER  BUREAU 167 

VIII    A  CHAPTER  OF  EXPLOSIONS 175 

CONDENSATIONS 185 

SIGNS  OF  FAIR  WEATHER 185 

SIGNS  OF  COMING  STORM 187 

SIGNS  OF  CLEARING 189 

WHEN  WILL  IT  RAIN? 190 

SIGNS  OF  TEMPERATURE  CHANGE 191 

SOME  UNSOLVED  WEATHER  PROBLEMS  .  .  .192 
WHAT  THE  WEATHER  FLAGS  MEAN  .  .  .  .193 
OUR  FOUR  WORLD'S  RECORDS, —  AND  OTHERS  .  195 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Shower  Behind   Valley  Forge Frontispiece 

PAGE 

Cirrus  Deepening  to  Cirro-Stratus 16 

Cirro   Stratus  with   Cirro-Cumulus  Beneath    ....     32 

Cirro-Cumulus   to   Alto-Stratus 48 

Alto-Stratus 80 

Cumulus 96 

Stratus 128 

Nimbus  160 


FORECAST 

Science  is  certainly  coming  into  her  own  nowa- 
days,—  and  into  everybody  else's.  Every  ac- 
tivity of  man  and  most  of  Nature's  have  felt  her 
quickening  hand.  Her  eye  is  upon  the  rest. 
Drinking  is  going  out  because  the  drinker  is 
inefficient.  The  fly  is  going  out  because  he 
carries  germs.  And  for  everything  that  goes 
out  something  else  comes  in  that  makes  people 
healthier  and  more  comfortable,  and,  perhaps, 
wiser. 

One  strange  thing  about  this  flood-tide  of 
science  is  that  it  overwhelms  the  old,  buttressed 
superstitions  the  easiest  of  all,  once  it  really  sets 
about  it.  For  instance,  nothing  could  have  been 
better  fortified  for  centuries  than  the  fact  that 
night  air  is  injurious  and  should  be  shut  out  of 
house.  Then,  science  turned  its  eye  upon  night 
air,  found  it  a  little  cooler,  a  trifle  moister,  and 
somewhat  cleaner  than  day  air  with  the  result 
that  we  all  invite  it  indoors,  now,  and  even  go 
out  to  meet  it. 

Once  interested  in  the  air,  science  soon  began 


ii  FORECAST 

to  take  up  that  commonplace  but  baffling  phase 
of  it  called  the  weather.  Now,  of  all  matters 
under  the  sun  the  weather  was  the  deepest  in- 
trenched in  superstition  and  hearsay.  From  the 
era  of  Noah  it  had  been  made  the  subject  of 
more  remarks  unrelieved  by  common  sense  than 
any  other.  It  was  at  once  the  commonest  topic 
for  conversation  and  the  rarest  for  thought. 
Considering  the  opportunities  for  study  of  the 
weather  this  conclusion,  we  must  admit,  is  more 
surprising  than  complimentary  to  the  human 
race.  But  it  is  so.  The  fact  that  science  had 
to  face  was  this:  that  the  weather  had  been  and 
remained  a  tremendous,  dimly-recognized  factor 
in  our  level  of  living.  So  talk  about  it  all  must. 
And  science  set  about  finding  some  easy  funda- 
mental truths  to  talk  instead  of  the  hereditary 
gossip  about  old-fashioned  winters  or  the  usual 
meaningless  conversational  coin. 

Two  groups  of  men  had  always  known  a  good 
deal  about  the  weather  from  experience :  the 
sailor  had  to  know  it  to  save  his  life,  and  the 
farmer  had  to  cultivate  a  weather  eye  along  with 
his  early  peas.  But  the  ordinary  business  man 
(and  wife),  the  town-dweller,  and  even  the 
suburbanite  knew  so  few  of  the  proven  facts  that 
the  weather  from  day  to  day,  from  hour  to  hour, 
was  a  continual  puzzle  to  them.  The  rain  not 


FORECAST  iii 

only  fell  upon  the  just  and  unjust  but  it  fell  un- 
questioned, or  misunderstood. 

At  last  Science  established  some  sort  of  a 
Weather  Bureau  in  1870,  in  our  country,  and 
after  this  had  triumphed  over  great  handicaps, 
the  Government  set  it  upon  its  present  footing 
in  1891.  An  intelligent  interest  in  the  weather 
was  in  likelihood  of  being  aroused  by  maps, 
pamphlets,  frost  and  flood  warnings  that  saved 
dollars  and  lives.  Then  suddenly,  or  almost 
suddenly,  a  new  force  was  felt  in  every  commu- 
nity. It  was  the  call  of  outdoors.  The  new 
land  of  woods  and  lakes  was  explored.  Men 
learned  that  living  by  bread  alone  (without  air) 
made  a  very  stuffy  existence.  Hence  the  man  in 
town  opened  all  his  windows  at  night,  the  subur- 
ban majority  planned  to  build  sleeping  porches, 
the  youngsters  begged  to  go  to  camp,  their 
fathers  went  hunting  and  fishing  in  increasing 
numbers,  and,  most  important  of  all,  the  fathers' 
wives  began  to  accompany  them  into  the  woods. 

Thus,  living  has  been  turned  inside  out, —  the 
very  state  of  things  that  old  scientist  Plato 
recommended  some  thirty  thousand  moons  ago. 
And  among  the  manifestations  of  nature  the 
weather  is  holding  its  place,  important  and  even 
fascinating.  For  the  person  who  most  depends 
on  umbrellas  and  the  subway  in  the  city  needs 


iv  FORECAST 

to  watch  the  sky  most  carefully  in  the  woods. 
That  old  academic  question  as  to  whether  it  be 
wise  or  foolish  to  come  in  out  of  the  wet  was 
never  settled  by  the  wilderness  veteran.  The 
veteran's  wife  settles  it  very  quickly.  She  con- 
siders the  cloud.  When  the  commuter  goes 
camping  he  rightly  likes  his  comforts.  A  wet 
skin  is  not  one  of  these.  Therefore  he  studies 
the  feel  of  the  wind. 

And  so  it  comes  about  that  the  person  who 
talks  about  storm  centers  and  areas  of  high  pres- 
sure and  cumulus  clouds  is  no  longer  regarded 
as  slightly  unhinged.  Men  are  eager  to  learn 
the  laws  of  the  snowstorm  and  the  cold  wave; 
for,  with  the  knowledge  that  snow  is  not  poison 
and  cold  not  necessarily  discomfort,  January  has 
been  opened  up  for  enjoyments  that  July  could 
never  give. 

Bookwriting  and  camping  are  both  explained 
by  the  same  fact, —  a  certain  fondness  for  the 
thing.  I  wanted  to  see  the  commoner  weather 
pinned  down  to  facts.  The  following  chapters 
resulted.  They  constitute  a  sort  of  Overhead 
Baedeker,  it  being  their  pleasure  to  show  up  the 
sureties  of  the  sun  and  rain  and  to  star  the 
weather  signs  that  can  be  relied  upon.  For, 
after  all,  even  the  elements,  although  unruled, 
are  law-abiding. 


READING  THE 
WEATHER 

CHAPTER  I 

OUR   WELL-ORDERED   ATMOSPHERE 

IF  there  is  anything  that  has  been  overlooked 
more  than  another  it  is  our  atmosphere. 
But  it  absolutely  cannot  be  avoided  —  in 
books  on  the  weather.     It  deserves  a  chapter, 
anyway,  because  if  it  were  not  for  the  atmos- 
phere this  earth  of  ours  would  be  a  wizened  and 
sterile  lump.     It  would  float  uselessly  about  in 
the  general  cosmos  like  the  moon. 

To  be  sure  the  earth  does  not  loom  very  large 
in  the  eye  of  the  sun.  It  receives  a  positively 
trifling  fraction  of  the  total  output  of  sunheat. 
So  negligible  is  this  amount  that  it  would  not  be 
worth  our  mentioning  if  we  did  not  owe"  our 
existence  to  it.  It  is  thanks  to  the  atmosphere, 
however,  that  the  earth  attains  this  (borrowed) 

importance.     It  is  thanks  to  this  thin  layer  of 

11 


WEATHER 

gases  that  we  are  protected  from  that  fraction 
of  sunheat  which,  however  trifling  when  com- 
pared with  the  whole,  would  otherwise  be  suffi- 
cient to  fry  us  all  in  a  second.  Without  this  gas 
wrapping  we  would  all  freeze  (if  still  unfried) 
immediately  after  sunset.  The  atmosphere 
keeps  us  in  a  sort  of  thermos  globe,  unmindful 
of  the  burning  power  of  the  great  star,  and  of 
the  uncalculated  cold  of  outer  space. 

Yet,  limitless  as  it  seems  to  us  and  inexhaust- 
ible, our  invaluable  atmosphere  is  a  small  thing 
after  all.  Half  of  its  total  bulk  is  compressed 
into  the  first  three  and  a  half  miles  upward. 
Only  one  sixty-fourth  of  it  lies  above  the  twenty- 
one  mile  limit.  Compared  with  the  thickness 
of  the  earth  this  makes  a  very  thin  envelope. 

Light  as  air,  we  say,  forgetting  that  this  stuff 
that  looks  so  thin  and  inconsequential  weighs 
fifteen  pounds  to  the  square  inch.  We  walk 
around  carrying  our  fourteen  tons  gaily  enough. 
The  only  reason  that  we  don't  grumble  is  be- 
cause the  gases  press  evenly  in  all  directions  per- 
meating our  tissues  and  thereby  supporting  this 
crushing  burden.  A  layer  of  water  thirty-four 
feet  thick  weighs  just  about  as  much  as  this  air- 
pack  under  which  we  feel  so  buoyant.  But  if 
these  gases  get  in  motion  we  feel  their  pressure. 
We  say  the  wind  is  strong  to-day. 


OUR  ATMOSPHERE  13 

As  it  blows  along  the  surface  of  the  earth  this 
wind  is  mostly  nitrogen,  oxygen,  moisture,  and 
dust.  The  nitrogen  occupies  nearly  eight-tenths 
of  a  given  bulk  of  air,  the  oxygen  two-tenths, 
and  the  moisture  anything  up  to  one-twentieth. 
Five  other  gases  are  present  in  small  quantities. 
The  dust  and  the  water  vapor  occupy  space  inde- 
pendently of  the  rest.  As  one  goes  up  moun- 
tains the  water  vapor  increases  for  a  couple  of 
thousand  feet  and  then  decreases  to  the  seven 
mile  limit  after  which  it  has  almost  completely 
vanished.  The  lightest  gases  have  been  de- 
tected as  high  up  as  two  hundred  miles  and  sci- 
entists think  that  hydrogen,  the  lightest  of  all, 
may  escape  altogether  from  the  restraint  of 
gravity.  One  strange  fact  about  all  of  these 
gases  is  that  they  do  not  form  a  separate  chemi- 
cal combination,  although  they  are  thoroughly 
mixed. 

At  first  glance  the  extreme  readiness  of  the 
atmosphere  to  carry  dust  and  bacteria  does  not 
seem  a  point  in  its  favor.  In  reality  it  is. 
Most  bacteria  are  really  allies  of  the  human 
race.  They  benefit  us  by  producing  fermenta- 
tions and  disintegrations  of  soils  that  prepare 
them  for  plant  food.  It  is  a  pity  that  the  few 
disease  breeding  types  of  bacteria  should  have 
given  the  family  a  bad  name.  Without  bacteria 


14     READING  THE  WEATHER 

the  sheltering  atmosphere  would  have  nothing 
but  desert  rock  to  protect. 

Further,  rain  is  accounted  for  only  by  the 
dust.  Of  course  this  sounds  very  near  the 
world's  record  in  absurdities.  But  it  is  a  half 
truth  at  least,  for  moisture  cannot  condense  on 
nothing.  Every  drop  of  rain,  every  globule  of 
mist  must  have  a  nucleus.  Consequently  each 
wind  that  blows,  each  volcano  that  erupts  is  lay- 
ing up  dust  for  a  rainy  day.  Apparently  the 
atmosphere  is  empty.  Actually  it  is  full  enough 
of  dust-nuclei  to  outfit  a  fullgrown  fog  if  the 
dewpoint  should  be  favorable.  If  there  were 
no  dust  in  the  air  all  shadows  would  be  intensest 
black,  the  sunlight  blinding. 

But  the  dust  particles  fulfill  their  greatest  mis- 
sion as  heat  collectors, —  they  and  the  particles 
of  water  vapor  which  have  embraced  them.  It 
is  in  reality  owing  to  these  water  globules  and 
not  to  the  atmosphere  that  supports  them  that 
we  are  enabled  to  live  in  such  comfortable  tem- 
peratures. For  the  air  strata  above  seven  miles 
where  the  tides  of  oxygen  and  nitrogen  have  rid 
themselves  of  water  and  dust  absorb  very  little 
of  the  solar  radiation.  The  heat  is  grabbed  by 
the  lowest  layer  of  air  as  it  goes  by.  The  air 
snatches  it  both  going  and  coming.  The  little 
particles  get  about  half  of  it  on  the  way  down 


OUR  ATMOSPHERE  M 

and  when  it  is  radiated  back  very  little  escapes 
them. 

So  it  comes  about  that  the  heavy  moist  air 
near  the  earth  is  the  warmest  of  all.  It  would, 
of  course,  get  very  warm  if,  as  it  collected  its 
heat,  it  didn't  have  a  tendency  to  rise.  As  it 
rises,  moreover,  it  must  fight  gravity,  that  arch 
enemy  of  all  rising  things.  And  as  it  fights  it 
loses  energy,  which  is  heat.  So  high  altitudes 
and  low  temperatures  are  found  together  for 
these  two  reasons.  But  after  the  limit  of  mois- 
ture content  has  been  reached  the  temperature 
gets  no  lower  according  to  reliable  investiga- 
tions. Instead  a  monotony  of  459°  below  zero 
eternally  prevails  —  459°  is  called  the  absolute 
zero  of  space. 

The  vertical  heating  arrangements  of  the 
atmosphere  appear  somewhat  irregular.  But 
horizontally  it  is  in  a  much  worse  way.  The 
surface  of  the  globe  is  three  quarters  water  and 
one  quarter  land  and  irregularly  arranged  at 
that.  The  shiny  water  surfaces  reflect  a  good 
deal  of  the  heat  which  they  receive,  they  use  up 
the  heat  in  evaporation  and  what  they  do  absorb 
penetrates  far.  The  land  surfaces,  on  the  con- 
trary, absorb  most  of  the  heat  received,  but  it 
does  not  penetrate  to  any  depth.  As  a  conse- 
quence of  these  differences  land  warms  up  about 


16     READING  THE  WEATHER 

four  times  as  quickly  as  water  and  cools  off  about 
four  times  as  fast.  Therefore  the  temperature 
of  air  over  continents  is  liable  to  much  more 
rapid  and  extreme  changes  than  the  air  over  the 
oceans. 

The  disparity  of  temperature  is  also  rendered 
much  greater  because  of  differing  areas  of  cloud 
and  clear  skies,  because  of  interfering  mountain 
masses,  because  of  the  change  from  day  to  night, 
or  the  constant  progress  of  the  seasons.  At 
first  blush  it  seems  remarkable  that  the  atmos- 
phere should  not  be  hopelessly  unsettled  in  its 
habits,  that  there  should  belong  to  it  any  hint  of 
system.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  in  the  main  its 
courses  are  as  well-ordered  as  the  sun's.  Cause 
and  not  caprice  are  at  the  bottom  of  the  wind's 
listings.  Its  one  desire  is  rest. 

But  rest  it  rarely  succeeds  in  finding.  For- 
ever warming,  rising,  cooling,  falling,  it  rushes 
about  to  regain  its  equilibrium.  With  so  many 
opposing  forces  at  work  the  calm  day  is  the  real 
marvel,  our  weeks  of  Indian  Summer  the  rank- 
ing miracle  of  our  climate.  The  very  evolution 
of  the  myriad  patches  of  air  quilted  over  the 
earth  with  their  different  opportunities  to  be- 
come heated,  to  cool  their  heels,  precludes  sta- 
bility in  our  so  called  Temperate  Zone.  But 
over  great  stretches  of  the  earth's  surface  condi- 


OUR  ATMOSPHERE  17 

tions  are  continuous  enough  to  discipline  the 
atmosphere  into  strict  routine.  Conjure  the 
globe  before  your  eyes  and  you  will  find  the 
scheme  of  atmospheric  circulation  something 
like  this : 

A  broad  band  of  heated  air  perpetually  rises 
from  the  sweltering  equatorial  belt  of  lands  and 
seas.  The  supply  never  ceases,  the  warming 
process  goes  on  night  and  day,  and  to  a  great 
height  the  light  warm  incense  mounts.  Then, 
cooling,  from  this  altitude  it  begins  to  run  down 
hill  toward  the  poles.  This  is  happening  all  the 
way  around  the  globe.  So  naturally  the  com- 
mon centers,  the  poles,  cannot  accommodate  all 
this  downrush  of  air.  Therefore  as  it  ap- 
proaches the  goal  it  falls  into  a  majestic  file 
about  the  center,  very  much  as  water  does  in 
running  out  of  a  hole  in  the  center  of  a  circular 
basin.  The  nearer  north,  the  cooler  this  vast 
maelstrom  grows  and  the  nearer  has  it  sunk  to 
the  earth.  It  descends  circuitously  and,  by  the 
force  arising  from  the  earth's  rotation,  is 
sheered  to  the  right  in  the  northern  hemisphere, 
to  the  left  in  the  southern. 

Watching  the  water  circle  out  of  the  basin  you 
will  notice  the  outside  whirl  is  in  no  hurry  to  get 
to  the  center.  This  corresponds  to  the  easterly 
trades  of  commerce,  geography,  and  fiction. 


18     READING  THE  WEATHER 

The  direction  of  the  upper  currents  flowing  back 
to  the  poles  is  from  southwest  to  northeast;  but 
in  our  middle  zones  this  becomes  almost  from 
west  to  east,  is  constant  and  is  known  to  the  pro- 
fession as  the  prevailing  westerlies. 

Look  up  some  day  when  wisps  of  clouds  are 
floating  very  high.  You  will  notice  that  their 
port  is  in  the  east,  mattering  not  what  wind  may 
be  blowing  where  you  are.  They  are  above  the 
petty  disturbances  of  the  shallow  surface  winds. 
They  follow  a  Gulf  Stream  of  immeasurable 
grandeur.  Onward,  always  onward,  they  sail, 
emblems  of  a  great  serenity. 

Beneath  this  vast  drift  of  air,  which  increases 
in  velocity  as  it  nears  the  pole,  is  an  undertow 
from  two  to  three  miles  thick.  It  is  the  move- 
ments of  this  undertow  that  affect  our  lives. 
These  movements  are  influenced  by  all  the 
changes  of  temperature  and  by  the  configura- 
tions of  land.  They  take  the  form  of  whirls. 
These  whirls  may  be  small  eddies,  local  in  effect, 
or  vast  cyclones  with  diameters  of  fifteen  hun- 
dred miles.  Small  or  large  they  roll  along 
under  the  Westerlies,  translated  by  friction,  and 
invariably  moving  for  most  of  their  course  in 
an  easterly  direction,  like  their  tractor  above. 
They  circle  across  the  United  States  every  few 
days.  Their  courses  do  not  vary  a  great  deal, 


OUR  ATMOSPHERE  19 

and  yet  enough  to  make  each  one  a  matter  for 
conjecture.  And  all  the  conjecturing  centers 
upon  the  condition  of  the  atmosphere, — the 
changing  atmosphere  which  is  yet  so  dependable. 
The  weather  we  are  used  to,  the  daily  weather 
that  catches  us  unprepared,  and  yet  that  does  not 
mistreat  us  all  the  time  is  the  product  of  these 
little  whirls,  which  are  so  remotely  connected 
with  the  grander  atmospheric  movements  of 
our  planet.  Remembering  this,  we  can  at  last 
come  back  to  earth,  and  set  about  our  real  busi- 
ness which  is  to  see  why  certain  kinds  of  weather 
come  at  such  uncertain  times  and  how  to  tell 
when  they  will  arrive. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE    CLEAR   DAY 

WE  owe  our  fair  weather  to  that  de- 
partment of  atmospheric  activity 
called  anticyclone  by  the  weather- 
man. The  anticyclone  is  an  accumulation  of 
air  which  has  become  colder  than  the  air  sur- 
rounding it.  This  accumulation  oftener  than 
not  has  an  area  near  the  center  where  the  air  is 
coldest.  About  this  coldest  area  the  air  cur- 
rents revolve  in  the  direction  of  a  clock's  hands. 
And  since  this  cold  air  is  contracted  and  denser 
than  its  warmer  environment  it  has  a  perpetual 
tendency  to  whirl  outward  from  the  center  into 
this  warmer  environment. 

One  comes  to  think,  therefore,  of  the  anti- 
cyclone as  a  huge  pyramid  of  cold  air  moving 
slowly  across  the  country  from  west  to  east  and 
all  the  while  melting  down  on  all  sides,  like  a 
plate  of  ice-cream,  into  the  surrounding  terri- 
tory. It  is  such  an  immense  accumulation  that 
often  while  its  head  is  reared  over  Montana  the 
first  shivers  of  its  approach  are  beginning  to  be 

20 


THE  CLEAR  DAY  21 

felt  in  Texas  and  Pennsylvania.  It  does  not 
extend  equally  far,  however,  to  the  north  and 
west  of  its  head,  which  is  really  sometimes  where 
its  tail  ought  to  be.  That  is,  a  long  slope  of 
increasing  pressure  and  cold  will  sweep  in  a 
gentle  gradient  from  Pennsylvania  to  Montana 
and  will  then  decrease  by  a  very  steep  gradient 
to  the  Pacific  Coast. 

The  anticyclone  draws  its  power  from  the  in- 
exhaustible supplies  of  cold  air  from  the  upper 
levels.  This  air  is  very  dry  and  accounts  for 
the  almost  invariably  clear  skies  of  the  anti- 
cyclone. 

In  winter  when  the  intensity  of  all  the  atmos- 
pheric activities  is  greatly  increased,  the  anti- 
cyclone develops  into  the  cold  wave.  The 
rapidly  rising  pressure  rears  its  head  and  rushes 
along  upon  the  heels  of  a  storm  like  a  vast  tidal 
wave  at  sixty  miles  an  hour,  tumbling  the  mer- 
cury thirty,  forty,  fifty  degrees. 

These  cold  waves  first  appear  in  the  north- 
west. They  cannot  well  originate  over  either 
ocean  and  a  high-pressure  area  building  up  over 
the  southern  half  of  the  country  will  not  attain 
the  sufficient  degree  of  frigidity  to  earn  the  title, 
for  even  cold  waves  have  been  standardized  by 
the  Government.  But  although  nearly  all  the 
cold  waves  choose  Montana  or  the  Dakotas  as  a 


22     BEADING  THE  WEATHER 

base,  they  have  at  least  two  definite  lines  of 
action.  Those  which  are  born  amid  the  moun- 
tains or  on  the  great  plains  of  Montana  have  a 
curious  habit  of  bombarding  the  Texas  coast  be- 
fore starting  on  their  eastward  march.  It  is  not 
unusual  for  us  to  read  of  zero  weather  in  the 
Panhandle  and  freezing  on  the  Gulf  while  the 
mercury  may  still  be  standing  as  high  as  fifty  in 
New  York  City. 

It  is  this  rapid  onslaught  from  Montana  to 
Texas  that  produces  those  notorious  blizzards 
of  that  section  called  northers,  during  which 
the  cattle  used  to  be  frozen  on  the  hoof.  The 
record  time  for  a  drive  of  this  extent  is  about 
twelve  hours  and  the  normal  about  twenty-four 
which  gives  scant  time  for  the  Weather  Bureau 
to  warn  the  vast  interests  of  the  impending  as- 
sault. When  the  cold  wave,  after  following 
this  path,  does  swing  toward  the  Atlantic  Coast, 
as  most  of  them  do,  it  has  lost  interest  and 
usually  produces  only  seasonably  cold  weather 
along  the  Appalachians. 

Those  cold  waves  that  recruit  their  strength 
in  Canada  and  enter  the  United  States  through 
Minnesota  or,  rarely,  this  side  of  the  Lakes 
move  along  the  border  and  supply  intensely  cold 
weather  for  a  night  or  two  to  New  England  and 
the  Middle  Atlantic  States. 


THE  CLEAR  DAY  23 

Cold  waves  almost  always  follow  a  storm. 
The  storm,  being  an  area  of  low  pressure  makes 
a  fit  receptacle  for  the  surplus  of  the  high  pres- 
sure, and  since  the  whole  business  of  the  weather 
is  to  seek  peace  and  pursue  it,  the  greater  the 
discrepancies  the  more  violent  the  pursuit. 
Consequently  we  have  the  spectacle  of  a  ridge 
of  cold  dry  air  following  and  trying  to  level  up 
a  fleeing  hollow  of  warm  moist  air  —  but  rarely 
succeeding.  This  principle  of  action  and  reac- 
tion is  almost  the  sole  principle  of  the  weather 
and  is  nowhere  more  clearly  demonstrated  than 
in  the  winter's  succession  of  storm  and  cold 
wave. 

In  summer  the  anticyclones  are  not  only  actu- 
ally but  relatively  more  moderate  than  in  winter. 
But  their  influence  is  still  the  same, —  clear  skies, 
cooler  nights,  dry,  westerly  winds.  During  the 
year  the  anticyclone  furnishes  us  with  about 
sixty  per  cent,  of  our  weather.  The  cyclone  is 
responsible  for  the  remaining  forty  per  cent. 
The  weather  depends  on  the  cyclone  for  its  va- 
riety and  upon  the  anticyclone  for  its  reputa- 
tion. So  it  is  well  to  be  able  to  recognize  an 
anticyclone  when  one  appears. 

The  first  and  most  reliable  symptom  of  the 
approach  of  an  anticyclone  is  the  west  wind. 
This  sign  is  valid  the  country  over,  and  is  one  of 


24     READING  THE  WEATHER 

the  very  few  signs  that  hold  true  for  most  of 
the  North  Temperate  Zone.  In  summer  over 
our  country  the  west  wind  comes  from  the  south- 
west, to  be  Irish,  and  in  winter  from  the  north- 
west. But  for  nearly  all  of  our  forty-eight 
states  for  nearly  all  of  the  year  the  westerly 
winds  are  those  that  bring  us  fair  days  and 
nights.  And  it  is  these  crisp,  clear  days  and 
cloudless,  brilliant  nights  which  we  have  in  mind 
when  we  boast  to  English  friends  of  our  Ameri- 
can weather. 

The  west  wind  is  so  popular  because  it  has  a 
slight  downward  flowing  tendency.  It  also 
blows  from  land  to  sea  over  all  America  except 
the  narrow  Pacific  coast.  These  downward, 
outward  directions  allow  it  to  gather  only 
enough  moisture  to  keep  it  from  becoming  seri- 
ously dry.  Its  upper  sources  supply  it  with 
ozone.  Its  density  gives  it  weight  and  by  its 
superior  weight  it  prevails.  It  dries  roads 
faster  than  a  brace  of  suns  could  do  it.  It  is 
tonic.  And  curiously  enough,  although  the  anti- 
cyclone loads  half  a  ton  excess  weight  upon  us 
we  like  it.  The  greater  the  burden  the  more  we 
feel  like  leaping  and  shouting.  Our  good  cheer 
seems  to  be  ground  out  of  us,  like  street  pianos. 

The  reverse  holds,  too.  For  when  the  anti- 
cyclone moves  off  us  and  the  cyclone  hovers  over 


THE  CLEAR  DAY  25 

us,  removing  half  a  ton  of  pressure,  instead  of 
feeling  relieved  we  feel  depressed,  out  of  spirit. 
The  animals  share  this  reaction  with  us.  In  fact 
barnyards  antedated  barometers  as  forecasters, 
because  all  the  domestic  creatures,  with  pigs  in 
particular,  evidenced  the  disagreeable  leniency 
of  the  low  pressure  areas  upon  their  persons. 

"  Grumphie   smells   the   weather 
An'    Grumphie   smells   the   wun' 

He  kens  when  clouds  will  gather 
An'  smoor  the  blinkin'  sun." 

The  only  trouble  about  this  rather  extravagant 
tribute  to  the  pig,  versatile  though  he  is,  is  that 
he  can  tell  only  a  very  few  hours  ahead  about 
the  coming  changes  and  it  takes  so  much  more 
skill  to  judge  what  his  actions  mean  than  to  read 
the  face  of  the  sky  that  the  science  of  meteorol- 
ogy finally  comes  to  supplant  barnyardology. 

The  coming  of  the  anticyclone  is  foretold  by 
the  shifting  of  the  wind  from  any  quarter  to  the 
west.  The  course  that  the  center  of  the  anti- 
cyclone is  keeping  may  be  watched  by  the  same 
agency.  Since  the  circulation  from  the  cone  of 
cold  air  follows  the  hour  hands  of  a  clock  it 
follows  that  if  the  center  is  moving  north  of  you 
the  wind,  blowing  outward  from  the  center,  will 
work  from  west  to  northwest  and  from  north- 
west to  north  and  slightly  east  of  north. 


26     READING  THE  WEATHER 

If  the  wind  has  shifted  into  the  west  on  a 
Wednesday,  it  will  likely  be  cold  by  Wednesday 
night  and  colder  on  Thursday.  By  Friday 
morning  the  wind  will  be  coming  from  the  north, 
likely,  with  the  lowest  temperature  of  all.  By 
Saturday  the  cold  will  moderate,  the  wind  will 
tire  and  gradually  die  to  a  calm  or  become 
weakly  variable.  The  four  day  supremacy  of 
the  anticyclone  will  be  over.  But,  mind  you, 
there  are  a  dozen  variations  of  this  routine.  I 
am  only  suggesting  a  usual  one. 

If  after  blowing  two  or  three  days  from  the 
west  the  wind  shifts  to  the  southwest  and  south, 
you  may  know  that  the  central  cold  area  is  pass- 
ing south  of  you  and  that  its  intensity  will  not 
be  great.  While  these  anticyclones  that  float 
down  and  to  the  right  of  their  normal  path 
linger  longer,  they  are  never  so  severely  cold, 
nor,  alas,  so  uniformly  clear  as  the  others.  It 
is  a  profound  law  of  anticyclones  and  even  more 
particularly  of  cyclone^,  that  if  they  deviate  to 
the  right  they  weaken,  if  they  are  pushed  by  an 
obstacle  to  the  left  they  increase  greatly  in  in- 
tensity. 

Occasionally  the  central  portion  of  an  anti- 
cyclone passes  over  your  locality.  Then  the 
wind  will  fall.  The  frost  will  be  keen  and  the 
cold  will  be  notably  dry  and  invigorating.  In 


THE  CLEAR  DAY  27 

summer  although  the  sunlight  may  be  power- 
fully bright  and  the  heat  great,  yet  the  air  will 
have  a  buoyant  effect,  the  body  a  resilience. 
And  the  nights  will  cool  swiftly.  Soon  after  the 
center  passes  from  the  locality  a  wind  will  spring 
up  from  the  east  with  rapidly  rising  temperature 
and  increased  humidity. 

The  coldest  part  of  the  anticyclone  i's  not,  as 
one  would  suppose,  at  the  center,  but  in  advance 
of  it;  and  its  authority,  like  a  schoolmaster's,  is 
rapidly  dissipated  after  its,  back  is  turned  upon 
a  place. 

The  intensity  of  an  anticyclone  is  measured 
by  its  wind  velocity  and  by  the  degree  of  cold 
obtaining  under  its  influence.  But  the  greatest 
cold  occurs  rarely  in  conjunction  with  the  great- 
est velocity  of  the  wind.  The  calms  that  occur 
at  sunrise  enable  radiation  to  take  an  extra  spurt 
which  pushes  the  mercury  lower  by  a  degree  or 
so  than  happens  when  the  wind  is  blowing. 
But,  windy  or  calm,,  the  period  about  sunrise  is 
normally  the  coldest  of  the  day,  even  extending 
in  midwinter  for  as  much  as  half  an  hour  after 
sunrise,  so  slow  are  the  feeble  rays  at  restoring 
the  balance  of  loss  and  gain  of  heat. 

The  greatest  falls  occur  at  the  advent  of  the 
cold  wave,  no  matter  whether  it  arrives  at  ten 
in  the  morning  or  at  midnight.  If  the  tempera- 


28     READING  THE  WEATHER 

ture  starts  to  decline  gradually  during  the  day,  a 
further  and  decided  fall  may  be  expected  at 
nightfall  if  the  sky  is  clear.  And  if  the  tem- 
perature rises  gradually  during  the  night  the 
normal  processes  are  being  displaced  and  a 
change  from  fair  to  foul  is  a  surety.  In  sum- 
mer the  hottest  time  of  day  is  not  at  noon,  any 
more  than  the  coldest  part  of  the  winter  day  was 
at  midnight,  for  the  reason  that  the  sun  can  pour 
in  its  heat  faster  than  the  earth  can  radiate  it, 
and  the  hour  for  the  maximum  temperature  is 
pushed  as  far  along  toward  evening  as  four  or 
five  or  even  six  o'clock. 

The  average  anticyclone  continues  its  influ- 
ence for  clearness  for  about  four  days.  Some, 
however,  hurry  the  whole  thing  through  in  two. 
Others  are  interrupted  by  a  more  vigorous  cy- 
clone and  are  put  to  rout.  Others  are  held  up 
by  an  inherent  weakness  and  are  forced  to  mark 
time  over  one  locality  until  strengthened  or  dis- 
sipated. And  a  few  great  ones  hold  sway  over 
the  country  for  a  week.  These  choose  the 
north-center  of  the  country  in  which  to  locate. 
There  they  pile  up  the  cold  air  until  its  very 
weight  causes  it  to  move  majestically  on.  Its 
skirts  sweep  the  Gulf  coast  where  they  are  a  bit 
bedraggled  by  invading  cyclones.  It  gives  the 
New  Englanders  a  fortnight  of  nipping,  brisk 


THE  CLEAR  DAY  29 

days  and  the  mercury  in  Minnesota  and  the 
Dakotas  does  not  emerge  above  zero.  Once, 
in  Montana,  one  of  these  refrigerating  systems 
established  the  record  of  sixty-three  degrees  be- 
low zero.  But  in  Siberia  where  the  immense 
extent  of  the  land  surface  collaborates  with  a 
prolonged  night,  an  anticyclone  built  up  an  area 
of  superior  chilliness  that  left  a  world's  record 
of  ninety-one  below. 

In  summer  a  succession  of  these  highs  causes 
the  frequent  droughts  of  weeks  which  harass  the 
West  and  New  England.  The  air  becomes  so 
dry  that  it  parches  and  then  shrivels  the  green 
leaves.  Any  little  cyclones  that,  under  ordinary 
conditions,  would  suck  in  moist  air  from  the 
Gulf  and  relieve  the  situation  with  a  rain  are 
dried  out  and  frustrated  by  the  unclouded  sun. 
It  requires  a  cyclone  of  great  depth  to  overthrow 
the  supremacy  of  these  summer  anticyclones. 

While  the  anticyclone  furnishes  fair  weather 
the  sky  is  not  necessarily  or  even  usually  free 
from  clouds  under  its  influence.  In  summer  the 
evaporation  during  the  long  days  overloads  the 
air  for  the  time  being.  Normally  about  eleven 
in  the  morning  little  balls  and  patches  of  white 
clouds  dot  the  blue.  These  increase  in  number 
and  size  until  about  three  in  the  afternoon  when 
they  will  have  grown  little  black  bellies  and 


30     READING  THE  WEATHER 

fluffy  white  tops.  By  five  they  will  have  dwin- 
dled and  by  eight  entirely  vanished.  These 
heaped  clouds,  known  as  cumulus,  are  a  guar- 
antee of  a  normal  atmosphere  and  continued  fair 
weather.  They  mean  that  currents  of  warm, 
moist  air  have  risen  until  they  have  struck  a  level 
so  cool  as  to  cause  them  to  condense  part  of  their 
moisture.  This  condensation  sinks  until  it  en- 
ters a  warmer  stratum  and  the  cloud  is  dissi- 
pated. The  total  movement  is  a  reasonable  ex- 
change that  preserves  the  equilibrium  of  the 
air,  very  much  as  a  person  bends  one  way  and 
then  another  to  maintain  his  balance. 

In  winter  there  is  not  such  an  opportunity 
offered  and  the  few  clouds  that  form  because  of 
the  daily  variation  in  temperature  are  flatter  and 
are  called  stratus  clouds.  Sometimes  these 
stratus  clouds  may  cover  the  sky  at  midday,  but 
in  thin  platings  and  not  leadenly.  In  winter  as 
in  summer  they  tend  to  disappear  toward  even- 
ing. They  are  often  accompanied  by  an  un- 
pleasant wind,  but  rarely  by  the  snow  flurry 
which  is  the  "  April  shower  "  of  the  winter 
months. 

But  when  the  snow  flurry  does  come  there  is 
no  better  sign  for  the  woodsman  of  coming  cold ; 
it  never  fails.  The  morning  will  have  begun 


THE  CLEAR  DAY  31 

brilliantly,  but  soon  great  summery  puffs  of 
cloud  form  and  increase  and  darken  on  their 
under  sides.  Their  tops  are  vague  and  wear  a 
veil.  It  is  the  snow.  The  reason  is  simple. 
The  coming  anticyclone  strikes  the  upper  air  be- 
fore it  hits  the  earth's  surface.  The  sudden 
cold  causes  rapid  condensation.  Hence  the 
flurries.  But  the  anticyclone  is  an  agent  of  dry- 
ness,  hence  their  short  duration.  Sometimes  the 
veil  of  snow  does  not  reach  the  earth.  Some- 
times it  blots  out  everything  in  a  spirited  squall. 
But  it  never  lasts  long,  except  in  the  northwest 
states.  And  it  is  invariably  followed  by  a 
period  of  colder  weather. 

In  summer  local  evaporation  may  be  so  long- 
continued  or  so  vigorous  that  the  cumulus  clouds 
cannot  hold  all  their  moisture  content  when 
cooled.  A  shower  is  the  result,  usually  a  tri- 
fling one  and  mostly  without  thunder.  The 
great  thunderstorms  are  always  in  connection 
with  the  passing  of  a  cyclone.  The  small  heat 
thunderstorms  are  only  the  indulgences  of  a 
spell  of  fair  weather.  These  tiny  showers  are 
daily  and  sometimes  hourly  accompaniments  of 
clear  weather  in  the  mountains.  The  air  warms 
rapidly  in  the  valleys  and  is  speedily  cooled  on 
rushing  up  a  mountain  side  and  a  threat  and  a 


32     READING  THE  WEATHER 

sprinkle  are  the  result.  When  a  performance 
of  this  sort  is  going  on  nobody  need  fear  un- 
pleasant weather  of  long  duration. 

Another  pledge  of  a  clear  day  that  does  not 
appear  too  credible  on  the  face  of  it  is  the  morn- 
ing fog  in  summer.  In  winter  it  is  a  different 
matter.  In  August  and  September  particularly 
the  rapidly  lengthening  nights  allow  so  much 
heat  to  evaporate  that  the  surplus  moisture  in 
the  air  is  condensed  to  the  depth  of  several  hun- 
dred feet.  By  ten  o'clock  the  sun  has  eaten  into 
this  lowest  stratum,  heated  it  and  yet  begins  to 
decline  in  power  before  the  balance  swings  the 
other  way,  so  that  a  cloudless  day  often  follows 
a  fog  in  those  months.  About  three  mornings 
of  fog,  however,  are  enough  to  discourage  the 
sun  and  a  rain  follows.  Of  course  this  is  be- 
cause the  anticyclone  with  its  special  properties 
has  been  losing  power. 

When  these  conditions  of  clear  nights  with  no 
wind  follow  the  first  two  or  three  windy  days  of 
the  anticyclone,  particularly  in  autumn  and 
spring,  frost  results.  In  winter  the  chances  that 
a  fog  will  be  dissipated  are  rather  slim.  But  if 
it  shows  a  tendency  to  rise  all  may  yet  be  well. 

An  excellent  sign  of  clear  weather  is  this  fact 
of  the  morning  mist  rising  from  ravines  in  the 
mountains.  And  even  if  you  haven't  any  moun- 


H  gw    - 


THE  CLEAR  DAY  33 

tain  ravines  at  command  the  altitude  of  clouds 
can  be  observed.  It  is  safer  to  have  them 
lessen  in  number  rather  than  increase,  scatter 
rather  than  combine.  The  higher  the  clouds 
the  finer  the  weather.  And  if  the  sky  through 
the  rifts  is  a  clear  untarnished  blue  the  prospects 
of  settled  weather  are  much  better  than  with 
fewer  clouds  and  a  milky  blue  sky  beyond. 

After  the  direction  of  the  wind  and  the  shapes 
of  the  clouds  the  colors  of  the  sky  are  a  great 
help  in  the  reading  of  the  morrow's  promise. 
And  the  best  time  to  read  this  promise  is  in  the 
morning  or  evening  when  the  half  lights  empha- 
size the  coloring. 

Soon  after  the  close  observation  of  cloud  col- 
ors has  commenced  the  amazing  discovery  is 
made  that  the  same  color  at  sunrise  means  ex- 
actly the  reverse  of  its  meaning  at  sunset. 

"  Sky    red    in    the    morning 

A   sailor's   sure  warning, 
Sky  red  at  night 

A  sailor's  delight." 

Christ  seized  upon  this  phenomenon  to  throw 
confusion  into  the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees  when 
they  asked  that  He  would  show  them  a  sign 
from  Heaven.  As  Matthew  reports  it : — "  He 
answered  and  said  unto  them,  When  it  is  evening 
ye  say,  It  will  be  fair  weather  for  the  sky  is  red. 


34     READING  THE  WEATHER 

And  in  the  morning  It  will  be  foul  weather  to- 
day for  the  sky  is  red  and  lowering.  O  ye  hypo- 
crites, ye  can  discern  the  face  of  the  sky;  but  ye 
cannot  discern  the  signs  of  the  times." 

The  reasons  for  this  contradictory  evidence 
of  color  are  not  nearly  so  obvious  as  the  fact 
itself.  Taking  the  scientist's  word  for  it  need 
not  stretch  one's  credulity  overmuch  if  he  can 
be  followed  step  by  step.  He  says  that  sunlight 
is  white  light,  and  white  is  the  sublime  combina- 
tion of  every  color.  If  no  atmosphere  existed 
about  us  the  light  would  all  come  through,  leav- 
ing the  sky  black.  The  atmosphere,  however, 
which  is  full  of  dust  and  water  particles,  breaks 
up  these  rays,  these  white  sheaves  of  light,  into 
their  various  colors.  The  longest  vibrations, 
which  are  the  red,  and  the  shortest,  which  are 
the  violet,  get  by  and  the  rest  are  turned  back, 
mixing  up  into  the  color  which  we  call  our  blue 
sky. 

If  the  dust  and  water  particles  grow  so  large 
and  numerous  as  to  divert  more  of  the  short  rays 
than  usual  we  get  a  redder  glow  than  usual. 
This  is  most  noticeable  when  the  sun  and  clouds 
are  near  the  horizon  for  the  air  through  which 
they  appear  is  nearer  the  earth  and  consequently 
dirtier.  If  these  water  globules  mass  together 
so  as  to  reflect  all  the  rays  alike  the  result  is  a 


THE  CLEAR  DAY  35 

whitish  appearance.  That  is  why  a  fog  bank, 
composed  of  tiny  droplets,  each  reflecting  with 
all  its  might,  can  make  the  sky  a  dull  and  uni- 
form gray. 

As  evening  approaches  the  temperature  of 
the  normal  day  lowers.  As  the  temperature 
lowers  it  is  the  tendency  of  the  moisture  in  the 
air  to  condense  about  the  little  dust  particles  in 
the  air.  And  as  these  particles  increase  in  size 
their  tendency  is  to  reflect  more  and  more  of 
the  waning  rays  of  light.  Therefore  if  the  sky 
is  gray  in  the  evening  it  means  that  the  atmos- 
phere already  contains  a  good  deal  of  condensed 
moisture.  If  the  coaling  should  go  on  through 
the  night,  as  it  normally  would,  condensation 
would  continue  with  rain  as  the  likely  result. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  after  the  evening's 
cooling  has  progressed  and  yet  the  colors  near 
the  horizon  are  prevailingly  red  it  means  that 
there  is  so  little  moisture  in  the  atmosphere  that 
the  further  increase  due  to  the  night's  condensa- 
tion will  not  be  sufficient  to  cause  rain.  Hence 
the  natural  delight  of  the  sailor. 

A  gray  morning  sky  implies  an  atmosphere 
full  of  water  precisely  as  an  evening  gray  does. 
The  difference  lies  in  the  ensuing  process.  By 
morning  the  temperature  has  reached  its  lowest 
point  and  if  this  has  not  been  sufficient  to  cause 


36     READING  THE  WEATHER 

cooling  to  the  rainpoint  the  chance  for  rain  will 
be  continually  lessened  by  the  growing  heat  of 
the  rising  sun.  The  gray,  therefore,  is  the  nor- 
mal indication  of  a  clear  cool  night  which  has 
permitted  radiation  and  therefore  condensation 
to  this  degree.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  we 
have  the  heavy  fogs  of  August  and  September 
followed  by  cloudless  days. 

A  red  morning  sky  shows,  like  the  red  evening 
sky,  that  condensation  has  not  taken  place  to 
any  extent.  But  this  is  abnormal  for  a  clear 
night  causes  condensation.  The  red  therefore 
means  that  a  layer  of  heavy  moist  air  above  the 
surface  levels  has  prevented  the  normal  radia- 
tion. Hence  when  the  day's  evaporation  adds 
more  moisture  to  that  already  at  the  higher 
levels  the  total  humidity  is  likely  to  increase  be- 
yond the  dewpoint  with  the  resultant  rain. 

These  two  color  auguries  are  among  the  most 
reliable  of  all  the  weather  signs.  Unfortu- 
nately the  sunrises  are  scarcely  ever  on  hand  to 
be  examined  except  by  milkmen.  But  a  careful 
scrutiny  of  the  sunset  will  make  one  proficient  in 
shades.  In  summer  when  the  sun  burns  round 
and  clear-cut  and  red  on  the  rim  of  the  horizon 
the  air  contains  much  dust  and  smoke,  the  ac- 
companiment of  dry  weather.  And  as  dry 
weather  has  a  way  of  perpetuating  itself  such  a 


THE  CLEAR  DAY  37 

sun  makes  dry  and  continued  weather  a  safe 
prophecy.  In  winter  the  same  red  and  flaming 
sun  setting  brilliant  as  new  minted  gold  is  a  sure 
indication  of  clear  and  cold  weather.  In  all 
seasons  the  light  tints  of  the  evening  sky  mean 
the  atmosphere  at  its  best.  A  golden  sunset,  a 
light  breeze  from  the  west,  a  glowing  horizon  as 
the  sun  goes  down,  slow  fading  colors  all  con- 
stitute a  hundred  to  one  bet  for  continued  fair 
weather.  The  sunset  colors  that  are  surely  fol- 
lowed by  storm  will  be  discussed  in  the  next 
chapter. 

The  sky  is  too  little  regarded.  Architects 
that  do  not  consider  the  sky  are  behind  in  their 
calling.  Maxfield  Parrish  has  made  himself 
famous  by  allying  himself  with  its  seas  of  color. 
The  hunter  can  read  it  and  learn  whether  he 
may  sleep  dry  without  his  tent.  Only  we  who 
shut  ourselves  within  rooms  and  behind  news- 
papers forget  that  there  is  a  sky  —  until  it  falls 
and  we  are  taken  to  a  sanitarium. 

From  the  night  itself  much  may  be  discovered 
about  the  continuance  of  fair  weather.  A  sky 
well  sown  with  stars  is  a  good  sign.  If  only  a 
few  stars  are  visible  the  clear  spell  is  about  over. 
Stars  twinkle  because  of  abrupt  variation  in  the 
temperature  of  the  air  strata.  If  the  wind  is 
from  the  west  cold  and  clear  will  result  no  mat- 


38     READING  THE  WEATHER 

ter  how  much  may  twinkle  twinkle  little  star. 
But  if  he  twinkle  with  the  wind  from  the  south 
or  east  the  cloud  will  soon  fly.  That  is  the  way 
with  these  weather  signs.  One  sign  does  not 
make  a  prophecy.  It  is  the  combination  that 
has  strength  and  reliability.  Furthermore  the 
eye  must  be  trained  by  many  comparisons. 

Of  all  the  conditions  that  make  night  fore- 
casting easy  the  later  evenings  of  the  moon  are 
the  best.  The  moon  furnishes  just  the  proper 
amount  of  illumination  to  betray  the  air  condi- 
tions. If  she  swims  clear  and  triumphant  well 
and  good.  If  she  rides  bright  while  dark  belly- 
ing clouds  sweep  over  her  in  summer,  inconse- 
quential showers  may  follow.  But  if  she  dis- 
appears by  faint  degrees  behind  a  thin  but  close 
knit  curtain  of  cloud  the  clear  weather  is  being 
definitely  concluded. 

A  great  many  changes  in  the  weather  take 
place  after  three  in  the  morning.  Most  camp- 
ers are  accustomed  to  waking  anyway  once  or 
twice  to  replenish  the  fire,  and  a  glance  at  the 
stars  will  show  the  sleepiest  what  changes  are 
occurring  in  the  eternal  panorama.  A  man  may 
have  gone  to  bed  in  security  to  get  up  in  a  snow- 
storm, whereas  a  survey  of  the  skies  at  three 
would  have  noted  the  coming  change.  The 
habit  of  waking  in  the  dead  of  night, —  which 


THE  CLEAR  DAY  39 

isn't  really  so  dead  after  all, —  is  not  an  unpleas- 
ant one.  Its  compensations  are  set  forth  in  a 
beautiful  and  vivid  chapter  of  Stewart  Edward 
White's  "  The  Forest."  Every  camper  knows 
them,  and  this  added  mastery  that  a  knowledge 
of  the  skies  gives  him  lends  a  sense  of  power, 
which  lasts  until  the  unexpected  happens. 

For  the  unexpected  happens  to  the  best  regu- 
lated of  all  forecasters,  the  Government. 
Equipped  with  every  instrument  and  with  an 
army  whose  business  is  nothing  else  than  to  hunt 
down  storms  and  warn  the  public,  the  Weather 
Bureau  is  still  surprised  fifteen  times  out  of  a 
hundred  by  unforeseeable  changes  in  atmos- 
pheric pressure.  It  is  scarcely  likely  then  that 
amateurs  without  flawless  barometers  and  with- 
out reports  of  the  current  weather  in  three  hun- 
dred places  could  hope  to  foretell  with  complete 
accuracy.  But  there  is  a  place  for  the  amateur, 
aside  from  his  own  personal  gratification  and 
profit.  The  Weather  Bureau  within  the  limits 
of  the  present  appropriation  cannot  expect  to 
predict  for  every  village  and  borough.  That 
the  amateur  may  do  and  with  as  great  accuracy 
for  the  few  hours  immediately  in  advance. 

The  Weather  Bureau  may  predict  with  this 
large  percentage  of  accuracy  —  85% — for 
forty-eight  hours  in  advance  because  its  scope  is 


40     READING  THE  WEATHER 

country  wide.  It  may  even  forecast  in  a  gen- 
eral way  for  seven  days  and  still  maintain  a  con- 
siderable advantage  over  almanac  guesswork. 
But  the  man  who  is  relying  upon  local  signs  is 
limited  to  ten  or  at  most  twelve  hours.  Of 
course  he  may  guess  beyond  that  but  it  is  only  a 
guess.  The  work  that  the  Bureau  does  and  that 
he  may  do  within  his  limits  is  not  guesswork. 
Meteorology  is  an  exact  science,  and  forecasting 
is  an  art.  Both  may  be  studied  now  in  classes 
under  professors  with  degrees  in  the  same  way 
that  any  other  science  and  art  may  be  studied. 
The  old  sort  of  weather  wisdom  which  was  a 
startling  compound  of  wisdom,  superstition,  and 
inanity  has  passed  away,  or  is  passing  away  as 
rational  weather  talk  spreads. 

These  limits  of  the  layman  —  ten  hours  with 
no  instruments  —  are  further  defined  by  his  lo- 
cality. In  mountainous  country  changes  come 
more  quickly  than  in  level  localities,  in  winter 
than  in  summer,  so  that  one's  prophetic  time- 
limit  is  shortened. 

While  the  best  indications  of  the  clear  day  are 
the  great  fundamental  ones,  there  are  many  little 
signs  that  bolster  up  one's  confidence  in  one's 
own  predictions.  The  lessened  humidity  coinci- 
dent with  clear  weather  is  responsible  often  for 
many  little  household  prognostics.  Salt  is  dry. 


THE  CLEAR  DAY  41 

The  windows  (of  your  summer  cottage)  do  not 
stick.  The  children  are  less  restless.  Smoke 
ascends,  or  if  the  wind  is  blowing  is  not  flattened 
to  the  ground.  Flies  are  merely  insects,  for  the 
time  being,  and  not  the  devil.  Swallows  and 
the  other  birds  that  eat  insects  fly  high  because 
that  is  where  the  insects  are.  Spiders  do  not 
hesitate  to  make  their  webs  on  the  lawn.  They 
welcome  dew  but  distrust  rain.  Cow  and  sheep 
feed  quietly,  rarely  calling  to  one  another  as 
they  do  before  a  storm.  In  short  the  general 
aspect  of  these  is  normal  and  therefore  remains 
unnoticed. 

But  all  these  household  prognostics  may  be 
advertising  the  most  placid  weather  while  only 
twelve  hours  away  and  coming  at  sixty  miles  an 
hour  may  be  the  severest  storm  of  the  season. 
The  Weather  Bureau  with  its  maps  and  barom- 
eters follows  its  every  movement.  The  man  in 
the  woods  whose  comfort  in  summer  and  whose 
life  in  winter  may  depend  upon  his  prepared- 
ness for  the  approaching  storm  does  well  to 
read  its  warnings  and  know  its  laws. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE   STORM   CYCLE 

DOUBTLESS  those  who  hope  for  a 
Hereafter  of  unmitigated  ease  and 
song,  desire,  on  this  earth,  one  long, 
sweet  anticyclone.  But  theirs,  in  most  of  the 
United  States,  is  disappointment.  With  an  ir- 
regularity that  seems  perversely  regular  at  times 
our  fair  weather  is  interrupted  by  a  storm  which 
in  turn  gives  way  to  some  more  fair  weather  or 
another  storm, —  there  is  no  telling  which  very 
long  in  advance.  And  that  is  why  American 
weather  ranks  high  among  our  speculative  in- 
terests. 

To  emphasize  this  irregularity  a  seemingly 
regular  succession  of  events  may  be  noticed.  It 
will  cloud  up,  let's  say,  on  a  Sunday,  rain  on 
Monday  and  Tuesday,  clear  on  Wednesday, 
staying  clear  until  Sunday  when  it  will  cloud  up 
for  the  repeat.  During  this  past  season  it 
rained  on  a  dozen  washdays  in  succession.  The 
newspapers  grew  jocular  about  it.  And  very 
often  one  notices  two  or  three  rainy  Sundays  in 

42 


THE  STORM  CYCLE          43 

a  row.  By  actual  observation  this  year  we  en- 
joyed fifteen  clear  Thursdays  in  succession  in  a 
normal  spring. 

The  weather  gets  into  a  rut.  And  if  the  anti- 
cyclones and  cyclones  were  all  of  the  same  in- 
tensity it  is  conceivable  that  the  rainy  Sundays 
might  go  on  until  the  Day  of  Rest  was  changed 
by  Statute.  But  the  intensities  of  the  whirls 
differ.  Before  long  an  anticyclone  feebler  than 
ordinary  is  overtaken  by  a  cyclone  and  annihil- 
ated. Or  one  stronger  than  the  average  may 
dominate  the  situation  for  several  days.  Or  the 
great  body  of  cold  air  in  winter  over  the  interior 
of  Canada  may  send  a  succession  of  moderate 
antis  across  our  country  making  a  barrier  of  dry 
cold  air  through  which  the  lurking  cyclone  can 
not  push. 

Mostly,  however,  three  days  of  anticyclonic 
influence  and  three  days  of  cyclonic  influence 
with  one  day  in  between  for  rest,  the  transition 
period,  make  up  a  normal  week  of  it.  Let  the 
American  farmer  thank  his  stars  (and  clouds) 
for  that.  For  no  other  regions  of  the  earth  are 
so  consistently  watered  and  sunned  all  the  year 
round  as  the  great  expanse  of  the  North  Ameri- 
can Continent. 

The  cyclone  is  that  activity  of  the  atmosphere 
which  prevents  us  from  suffering  from  an  eter- 


44     READING  THE  WEATHER 

nal  drought.  The  cyclone  is  an  accumulation 
of  air  which  has  become  warmer  than  the  air 
about  it.  This  area  of  air  usually  has  a  central 
portion  that  is  warmest  of  all.  Since  warmth 
expands,  this  air  grows  lighter  and  rises.  Na- 
ture, steadfast  in  her  grudge  against  a  vacuum, 
causes  the  surrounding  air  to  rush  it.  Since 
these  contending  currents  cannot  all  occupy  the 
central  area  at  once  they  fall  into  a  vast  ascend- 
ing spiral  that  spins  faster  and  faster  as  it  ap- 
proaches the  center.  Imagine  an  inverted 
whirlpool.  It  is  a  replica  on  a  much  smaller 
scale  of  the  great  polar  influx,  except  that  the 
latter  has  a  descending  motion. 

The  cyclone  thus  is  tails  to  the  anticyclone's 
heads,  the  reverse  of  the  coin.  Where  the 
anti's  air  was  cool  and  dry  the  cyclone's  is  warm 
and  moist.  The  anti  had  a  downward  tendency 
and  a  motion,  in  our  hemisphere,  flowing  out- 
ward from  the  apex  in  generous  curves  in  the 
direction  of  clock  hands.  The  cyclone  has  an 
upward  tendency,  flowing  inward  to  the  core 
contrariwise  to  clock  hands. 

From  these  two  great  actions  and  reactions 
come  all  the  varieties  of  our  weather.  To  un- 
derstand the  procession  of  the  cyclones  and  anti- 
cyclones across  our  plateaus,  our  mountains,  our 
plains,  and  our  eastern  highland  is  to  know  why, 


THE  STORM  CYCLE  45 

and  often  when,  it  will  be  clear  or  not.  To 
mentally  visualize  the  splendid  sweep  of  the  ele- 
ments on  their  transcontinental  run  is  to  glimpse 
grandeur  in  the  order  of  things  which  will  go 
far  to  offset  the  petty  annoyances  of  fog  or  sleet 
Ignorance  may  be  bliss,  but  knowledge  is  pre- 
paredness. 

The  anticyclone  suggests  a  pyramid  of  cold, 
dry  air.  The  cyclone  suggests  a  shallow  circu- 
lar tank  in  leisurely  whirl.  But  all  comparisons 
are  misleading  and  a  caution  is  needed  right 
here.  For  a  storm  is  NOT  a  watering  cart 
driven  across  our  united  skies  by  Jupiter  Tonans 
Pluvius.  It  is  NOT  a  receptacle  from  which 
rain  drips  until  the  supply  is  exhausted.  A  cy- 
clone is  a  much  more  delicate  operation  than 
that.  It  is  a  process.  It  can  renew  itself  and 
become  a  driving  rain  storm  after  it  had  all  the 
appearance  of  being  a  sucked  orange  for  a  thou- 
sand miles. 

Suppose  that  our  cyclone,  this  organization  of 
warm,  moist  air  with  its  curving  winds,  enters 
the  state  of  Washington  on  a  Wednesday,  from 
the  North  Pacific.  As  early  as  the  Monday  aft- 
ernoon before  the  wind  throughout  all  that  sec- 
tion of  the  country  would  have  shifted  out  of  the 
west  and  have  started  to  blow  in  some  easterly 
direction,- — northeast  in  British  Columbia  and 


46     READING  THE  WEATHER 

southeast  in  lower  Idaho.  But  since  these 
winds  are  blowing  from  the  interior  they  are 
dry,  and  consequently  rain  does  not  fall  much 
before  the  storm  center  is  near,  that  is  on  the 
Wednesday.  If  the  storm  center  passes  north 
of  Tacoma  the  winds,  shifting  by  south  and 
southwest,  bring  in  the  ocean  moisture  and 
heavy  rain  commences  which  continues  until  the 
rising  barometer  and  westerly  winds  indicate 
the  approach  of  another  anticyclone.  So  much 
for  western  Washington. 

As  the  cyclone  passes  eastward  it  mounts  the 
Cascades  and  its  temperature  is  lowered,  its 
moisture  is  squeezed  out,  and  it  stalks  over 
Montana,  the  mere  ghost  of  its  former  self,  as 
far  as  energy  and  rainfall  are  concerned.  To 
be  sure  it  preserves  its  essential  characteristics 
of  relative  warmth,  and  inwhirling  winds.  But 
let  it  continue.  As  its  influence  begins  to  be  felt 
over  Wisconsin  and  the  Lake  region  the  moister 
air  is  sucked  into  the  whirl  and  rain,  evaporated 
from  Superior,  falls  on  Minnesota.  The  east 
winds  are  the  humid  ones  now,  the  west  ones  the 
dry.  Eastward  the  center  moves,  over  Indiana, 
Ohio,  New  York,  the  rainfall  steadily  increas- 
ing as  the  ocean  reservoirs  are  tapped. 

The  first  time  you  tell  a  New  Englander  that 
his  easterly  storms  come  from  the  west  you  are 


THE  STORM  CYCLE  47 

in  danger,  unless  he  be  a  child,  for  it  is  to  the 
children  that  one  may  safely  appeal.  Indeed  it 
is  the  increasing  number  of  children  who  are 
learning  these  fundamental  weather  facts  in  the 
public  schools  that  the  Weather  Bureau  relies 
upon  for  a  more  intelligent  support  in  the  next 
generation.  They  teach  their  parents.  These 
latter  find  it  difficult  to  believe,  however,  that  the 
storms  which  hurl  the  fishing  fleets  upon  the 
coast  in  a  blinding  northeaster  have  not  origi- 
nated far  out  at  sea,  but  have  come  across  the 
continent.  For  the  safe  handling  of  boats 
knowledge  of  the  rotary  motion  of  storms  is 
necessary  that  one  may  be  able  to  tell  by  the 
direction  of  the  winds  and  the  way  they  are  shift- 
ing where  lies  the  center  of  the  storm  and  its 
greatest  intensity. 

In  Tacoma  when  the  wind  shifted  by  way  of 
southeast,  south,  and  southwest  that  was  proof 
that  the  storm  center  was  passing  north  of  the 
city.  Likewise  if  in  New  York  the  winds  shift 
by  way  of  northeast,  north,  and  northwest  the 
storm  center  is  passing  south  of  that  city.  As 
it  drifts  out  to  sea  it  is  gradually  dissipated  by 
the  changing  influences  on  the  North  Atlantic. 
Very  few  of  our  storms  ever  reach  Europe,  al- 
though some  have  been  traced  to  Siberia. 

The  Government  has  put  its  sleuths  on  the 


48     READING  THE  WEATHER 

track  of  every  storm  that  has  crossed  the  United 
States  in  the  last  thirty  years.  These  weather 
detectives  with  a  thousand  eyes  have  made 
diagrams  of  their  actions,  mapped  their  courses, 
computed  their  speeds,  and  if  we  don't  know 
where  all  our  discarded  storms  go  to,  we  at  least 
know  where  most  of  them  came  from  and  how 
they  acted  when  with  us. 

About  a  hundred  and  ten  areas  of  low-pres- 
sure affect  the  country  during  the  normal  year. 
Of  these  all  but  seven,  speaking  in  averages, 
come  from  the  West  so  that  the  Boston  mechanic 
who  will  not  believe  that  the  nor'easter  comes 
via  the  Mississippi  Valley  is  right  about  %io  of 
the  time.  But  even  that  small  fraction  is  no 
exception  to  the  general  law,  because  those  seven 
storms  are  not  born  in  Newfoundland  but  in  our 
East  Gulf  States.  They  come  up  the  Coast, 
and  the  wind  blows  from  the  northeast  and  north 
into  their  centers  while  they  are  still  on  the 
Carolina  coast.  The  great  hurricanes  which 
are  cradled  in  the  tropics  and  march  westward 
under  the  influence  of  the  trades  are  genuine  ex- 
ceptions to  the  general  westward  rule,  although 
they  always  eventually  turn  toward  the  east. 
They  will  be  given  the  prominence  they  demand 
later,  since  the  eastbound  schedule  must  not  be 
sidetracked  now. 


THE  STORM  CYCLE  49 

Three  cyclones  a  year  form  over  the  lower 
Ohio  River  basin.  On  account  of  their  origin 
over  land  instead  of  over  water  they  rarely  ac- 
quire much  energy.  Once  in  a  decade  such  de- 
pressions deepen  rapidly.  It  was  one  of  these 
Ohio  River  storms  that  increased  greatly  in 
energy  while  moving  from  West  Virginia  to  the 
Jersey  Coast  that  gave  Philadelphia  her  Christ- 
mas Blizzard,  a  surprise  to  her  citizens  and  to 
the  Weather  Bureau,  for  most  of  the  snow  fell 
with  the  mercury  above  freezing.  The  flare- 
back  which  gave  Taft  his  big  inaugural  snow- 
storm is  another  example  of  the  way  a  depres- 
sion may  deepen  on  approaching  the  coast. 
Until  the  upper  atmosphere  is  as  well  under- 
stood and  watched  as  the  lower,  or  until  instru- 
ments are  perfected  whereby  the  weather  condi- 
tions can  be  made  self -announcing  such  surprises 
are  absolutely  unavoidable.  Under  conditions 
that  warrant  any  suspicion  of  sudden  develop- 
ments the  Bureau  at  Washington  is  careful  to 
order  extra  observations  in  the  areas  likely  to 
be  affected,  but  no  surface  observations  can  quite 
suffice. 

Fifteen  storms  a  year  originate  over  the  west 
Gulf  States,  or,  drifting  in  from  the  Pacific  over 
Arizona  and  New  Mexico  begin  to  acquire  en- 
ergy in  Texas,  Twelve  are  set  up  over  the 


50     READING  THE  WEATHER 

Colorado  mountains.  These  usually  dip  down 
into  Texas  before  starting  their  drive  toward 
the  northeast.  After  both  these  sets  of  storms 
get  under  way  they  strike  resolutely  for  the 
same  locality, —  the  St.  Lawrence  Valley.  The 
conformation  of  the  St.  Lawrence  region  pro- 
vides an  irresistible  attraction  for  American 
storms.  Occasionally  a  very  strong  anticyclone 
holds  that  territory  and  pushes  the  cyclone  off 
the  coast  at  Hatteras  or  even  makes  them  drift 
across  the  country  to  Florida.  But  such  occa- 
sions are  exceptional.  Give  the  ordinary  cy- 
clone its  head,  and,  ten  to  one,  you  will  find  it 
on  the  way  to  the  St.  Lawrence.  The  inhabit- 
ants will  confirm  this  statement,  I  am  sure. 
They  do  not  feel  discriminated  against  in  the 
matter  of  weather.  They  get  nearly  everything 
that  is  going.  Since  they  have  to  accommodate 
from  seventy  to  eighty  cyclones  in  fifty-two 
weeks  they  have  very  little  time  to  brood  over 
any  one  variety  of  weather.  With  the  opti- 
mism of  that  section  of  the  country  they  say,  "  If 
you  don't  like  our  weather,  wait  a  minute." 

Ten  storms  a  year  originate  over  the  Rocky 
Mountain  Plateau,  north  of  Colorado.  About 
twenty  cross  over  from  the  Canadian  Provinces 
of  Alberta  and  British  Columbia.  And  all  our 
other  storms,  about  forty  each  year,  enter  our 


THE  STORM  CYCLE  51 

country  from  the  North  Pacific  by  way  of  Wash- 
ington and  Oregon.  Many  of  these  drift 
across  the  northern  tier  of  states  without  any 
great  display  of  energy,  at  least  before  they 
reach  the  Lake  region.  But  the  majority  loop 
down  somewhat  into  the  middle  west  as  far 
south  as  Kansas,  and  then  make  their  turn  to- 
ward the  inevitable  St.  Lawrence.  They  usu- 
ally require  four  days  to  make  the  trip  from 
coast  to  coast  by  this  route,  as  also  by  the  more 
direct  northern  route,  because  on  that  they 
travel  more  at  leisure.  But  the  storms  from 
Texas,  whose  energy  is  greatest  because  of 
greater  heat  and  moisture,  occasionally  speed 
from  Oklahoma  to  New  York  in  thirty-six 
hours. 

In  summer  all  speeds  are  reduced.  This  is 
because  the  disparities  in  temperature  are  less. 
In  winter  where  greater  extremes  of  tempera- 
ture are  brought  into  conjunction  the  processes 
of  the  storm  are  all  more  violent.  And  it  is  a 
bit  disheartening  to  know  that  a  storm  is  ag- 
gravated to  even  greater  endeavors  by  its  own 
exertions.  Its  energy  provides  the  conditions 
to  stimulate  greater  energy,  and,  like  a  fire,  it 
increases  as  it  goes.  If  it  did  not  run  out  of 
the  zone  which  nourished  it  and  proceed  into 
another  zone  where  conditions  were  distinctly 


52     READING  THE  WEATHER 

discouraging  the  limits  of  the  storm  would  be 
much  extended,  and  vast  territories  would  be 
devastated  by  the  self-propelling  combination 
of  wind  and  water. 

To  the  generality  of  us  the  word  storm 
means  rain.  To  the  scientist  it  means  wind. 
In  reality  the  cyclone  is  rare  that  crosses  our 
country  without  causing  rain  somewhere  along 
its  track.  The  curiosity  of  the  Weather  Bu- 
reau to  find  out  the  paths  of  the  storm  centers 
is  abundantly  justified  because  it  is  along  these 
paths  that  the  heaviest  rainfall  and  the  severest 
winds  occur.  But  whether  or  not  there  is  pre- 
cipitation on  the  path  of  the  cyclone  it  is  rated 
as  a  storm  if  there  is  a  lowering  of  pressure  and 
consequent  wind-shift. 

The  storm  centers  are  not  always  well- 
defined,  and  quite  often  the  circulation  of  the 
wind  about  them  is  not  complete.  Such  cy- 
clones never  amount  to  much,  although  there  is 
always  the  possibility  of  their  closing  in  and  de- 
veloping a  complete  circulation  with  the  attend- 
ant increase  of  energy.  The  incomplete  cy- 
clones ovw  the  desert  and  plateau  regions  are 
lame  affairs,  lacking  interest  and  advancing  tim- 
idly if  at  all.  But  once  let  them  drift  into  a 
locality  where  they  can  be  supplied  with  moist 


THE  STORM  CYCLE  53 

air,  they  pick  up  energy,  keep  a  definite  course, 
and  advance  with  increasing  speed. 

Very  often  the  center  will  split  up,  the  circu- 
lation perfecting  itself  around  both  centers  of 
depression.  One  of  these  will  likely  be  over 
Minnesota  and  the  other  over  Texas  and  the 
organization  will  steam-roller  the  states  to  the 
east  in  the  manner  of  a  gigantic  dumb-bell. 
This  formation  is  more  likely  to  have  been 
caused  by  the  two  centers  appearing  simultane- 
ously than  by  a  split  in  an  original  center.  The 
weather  reports  call  this  fashion  of  storm  a 
trough  of  low  pressure.  The  southern  center 
is  the  one  that  develops  the  more  energy  on  its 
turn  to  the  northeast.  If  the  two  centers  should 
unite  on  reaching  the  northeast  a  very  heavy  pre- 
cipitation is  the  invariable  result. 

All  cyclones  have  much  greater  length  than 
breadth.  They  frequently  stretch  from  un- 
known latitudes  in  Canada  into  unrecorded 
distances  into  the  Gulf,  while  on  the  other 
hand  it  is  a  very  large  storm  that  rains  si- 
multaneously upon  the  Mississippi  and  the  At- 
lantic. Behind  a  cyclone  of  pronounced  energy 
a  second  whirl,  called  a  secondary  depression, 
often  develops,  in  which  case  the  period  of  wet 
weather  is  prolonged.  Also,  more  rarely,  an 


54     READING  THE  WEATHER 

offshoot  forms  ahead  of  the  main  depression. 

A  sluggish,  sulky  cyclone  either  in  winter  or 
summer  provides  more  opportunity  to  humanity 
for  self-discipline  than  almost  any  other  feature 
of  our  national  environment.  In  winter  when 
the  depression  slows  up  it  settles  down  upon  one 
community  in  the  guise  of  fog,  and  stays  by  the 
locality  until  an  anticyclone  blows  in  and  noses 
it  out.  Fog  is  aggravation,  but  a  hot  wave  is 
suffering  and  the  hot  wave  is  caused  by  a  depres- 
sion weak  in  character  but  generous  in  dimen- 
sions getting  held  up  on  the  northern  half  of  our 
country.  By  its  nature  it  attracts  the  air  from 
all  sides,  and  being  in  the  north,  the  direction  of 
the  wind  over  most  of  the  country  would  be 
southerly.  Air  from  the  west  and  north  has  a 
downward  tendency,  but  south  and  east  winds 
are  surface  currents.  Consequently  these 
winds,  blowing  over  leagues  of  heated  soil,  be- 
come dry  and  parching.  If  the  depression  lin- 
gers long  the  entire  country  to  the  east,  south, 
and  west  soon  suffers  from  superheated  air.  At 
last  the  very  intensity  of  the  heat  defeats  itself 
and  the  reaction  to  cooler  is  effected  dramat- 
ically through  a  thunderstorm. 

The  well-developed  cyclone  in  winter  causes 
what  we  all  know  as  a  three  days'  rain,  although 
continuous  precipitation  rarely  lasts  over  ten 


THE  STORM  CYCLE  55 

hours.  The  rest  of  the  time  is  occupied  by  gen- 
eral cloudiness  with  occasional  sprinkles  and  a 
final  downpour  as  the  wind  shifts  to  the  west 
and  the  anticyclone  nears.  In  summer  the  de- 
pressions, being  shallower,  rarely  cause  continu- 
ous cloudiness  for  three  days,  although  their  in- 
fluence often  lasts  as  long  as  that  in  the  guise 
of  a  series  of  thunderstorms.  The  line  of 
storms  extends  several  hundred  miles,  bombard- 
ing all  the  towns  from  Albany  to  Richmond. 
These  thunderstorms  sometimes  achieve  in  an 
hour  or  two  even  greater  results  than  their  win- 
ter relatives  can  accomplish  in  three  days  in  the 
matter  of  rainfall,  wind  velocity,  and  general 
destructiveness.  Our  wettest  months  are  July 
and  August  and  not  December  and  January. 

The  freedom  of  the  wind  has  been  the  sub- 
ject of  much  poetic  and  prosaic  license.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  the  wind  is  the  veriest  slave  of  all 
the  elements.  It  is  harried  about  from  cyclone 
to  anticyclone,  wound  up  in  tornadoes,  directed 
hither  and  thither  by  changing  temperatures. 
It  blows,  not  where  it  listeth,  but  where  it  has 
to.  And  circuitously  at  that.  For  once  the 
path  of  duty  is  not  straight.  That  is  another 
fact  that  the  Boston  mechanic  would  have  been 
slow  to  accept, —  that  the  wind  blows  in  curves. 
A  little  consideration,  however,  of  the  fact  that 


56     READING  THE  WEATHER 

the  wind  is  perpetually  unwinding  in  great 
curves  from  the  anticyclone  and  winding  up  on 
the  cyclone  will  show  that  nowhere  can  it  be 
blowing  in  a  perfectly  straight  line. 

Thus  it  becomes  the  surest  indication  that  a 
cyclone  is  to  the  west  of  one  if  the  wind  blows 
from  an  easterly  point.  The  storm  is  bound  to 
move  toward  the  east,  therefore  the  rapidity 
with  which  the  clouds  move  and  thicken  will  sig- 
nify when  the  area  of  precipitation  will  reach 
the  observer.  The  cycle  of  the  storm  is  nor- 
mally this :  After  a  cloudless  and  windless 
night  a  light  air  springs  up  from  a  little  north 
of  east.  At  the  same  time  strands  of  thin  wavy 
clouds  appear,  very  high  up.  They  may  be 
seen  to  be  moving  from  the  southwest  or  north- 
west. Their  velocity  is  great.  Their  name  is 
cirrus,  and  they  are  called  mares'  tails  by  the 
sailors.  They  are  followed  by  several  hours 
of  clear  skies,  usually;  but  if  the  storm  is 
smaller  and  close  at  hand  there  is  no  clear  inter- 
val. 

Before  the  larger  storms  these  cirrus  clouds 
are  sent  up  as  storm  signals  twenty-four  and 
even  forty-eight  hours  in  advance.  The  day 
that  intervenes  is  very  clear,  the  air  feels  softer, 
the  temperature  is  higher.  In  midafternoon 
more  cirrus  appears,  and  as  condensation  fol- 


THE  STORM  CYCLE  57 

lows  the  quick  cooling  the  silky  lines  increase  in 
number.  Beneath  them  a  thicker  formation, 
known  as  cirro-stratus,  forms  a  dense  bank  in 
the  west  and  southwest.  The  sun  sets  in  a  gray 
obscurity.  If  there  is  a  moon  it  fades  by  de- 
grees behind  the  veil  of  alto-stratus,  and  the  halo 
which  first  was  seen  wide  enough  to  enclose  sev- 
eral stars  narrows  until  it  chokes  the  moon  in  its 
ever-thickening  cocoon  of  vapor. 

There  is  no  value  whatever  in  the  old  super- 
stition that  the  number  of  stars  within  the  halo 
foretells  the  number  of  days  that  it  will  rain  or 
snow.  The  same  halo  that  encloses  three  stars 
at  eight  o'clock  may  have  narrowed  down  to  one 
by  midnight,  or  none  at  all,  so  that  the  prophetic 
circle  is  bound  in  the  very  nature  of  its  increase 
to  contradict  itself.  The  presence  of  a  halo  is 
a  pretty  sure  sign  of  some  precipitation  within 
twenty-four  or  thirty  hours.  It  fails  about  thir- 
teen times  in  a  hundred.  If  the  halo  is  observed 
around  the  sun  it  is  an  even  surer  sign,  failing 
only  seven  times  the  hundred. 

During  the  time  of  cloud-increase  the  wind 
will  probably  lull  before  a  snow,  so  that  the 
hour  or  so  before  precipitation  begins  is  one  of 
intense  brooding  calm.  Or  if  there  is  no  calm 
the  wind,  now  easterly,  will  be  very  gentle. 
Soon  after  the  precipitation  begins  the  wind  will 


58     READING  THE  WEATHER 

begin  to  freshen  and  will  continue  to  increase  in 
velocity  until  the  center  of  the  storm  is  close  to 
the  locality.  This  will  require  about  eight 
hours  for  the  average  storm.  As  storms  vary 
an  average  is  a  very  misleading  thing  and  the 
best  way  to  judge  of  the  length  and  severity  of 
the  storm  is  by  watching  the  wind.  If  it  in- 
creases gradually  the  storm  will  be  of  long  du- 
ration. If  the  wind  rises  fitfully  and  swiftly  it 
will  not  likely  be  long  but  may  be  severe.  If  the 
wind  reaches  any  considerable  velocity  before 
the  rain  or  snow  begins  the  storm  is  sure  to  be 
short  and  severe. 

The  color  and  formation  of  the  clouds  will 
tell  when  the  precipitation  is  about  to  begin. 
In  summer,  no  matter  how  striking  and  black 
are  the  shapes  and  shadows  of  the  clouds,  rain 
will  not  fall  until  a  gray  patch,  a  uniform  veil 
called  nimbus  is  seen.  In  the  little  showers  of 
April  this  patch  of  unicolored  cloud  is  there,  as 
well  as  behind  the  great  arch  of  the  onrushing 
thunderstorm.  In  winter  raindrops  are  smaller 
and  the  tendency  of  the  clouds  is  to  appear  a 
dull,  uniform  gray  at  all  times.  But  the  careful 
observer  can  detect  a  difference  between  the 
nature  of  the  clouds  several  hours  before  pre- 
cipitation and  their  color  immediately  before. 

When  snow  is  about  to  fall  no  seams  are  visi- 


THE  STORM  CYCLE  59 

ble.  An  impenetrable  film  obscures  all  the 
joints.  From  such  a  sky  as  this  snow  is  sure  to 
fall.  But  if  seams  are  visible,  if  parts  of  the 
skyscape  are  darker  than  others,  then,  no  mat- 
ter whether  the  temperature  on  the  ground  is 
below  freezing  a  rain  storm  will  ensue.  Very 
often  these  winter  rains  begin  in  snow  or  sleet, 
but  the  clouds  register  the  moment  when  the 
change  from  snow  to  rain  is  to  be  made.  The 
presence  of  swift-flying  low  clouds  from  the  east 
is  a  certain  sign  that  the  change  to  a  temperature 
above  freezing  has  been  effected  in  the  upper 
strata  of  the  atmosphere.  This  variety  of  cloud 
is  called  scud,  and  accompanies  rain  and  wind 
rather  than  foretelling  it  long  in  advance. 

If  the  storm  is  approaching  from  the  south- 
west the  precipitation  begins  near  the  coast 
about  twelve  hours  after  the  cirrus  clouds  com- 
mence to  thicken  and  about  twenty-four  after 
they  were  first  seen.  In  some  localities  as  much 
as  thirty-six  and  even  forty-eight  hours  are 
sometimes  required  for  the  east  wind  to  bring 
the  humidity  to  the  dew-point.  Just  a  little  ob- 
servation will  enable  one  to  gauge  the  ordinary 
length  of  time  required  to  bring  things  to  the 
rain-pitch  in  one's  own  country.  Of  course  no 
two  storms  in  succession  make  the  trip  under  the 
same  auspices  and  with  the  same  speed.  The 


60     READING  THE  WEATHER 

sign  of  the  Universe  should  be  a  pendulum. 
One  period  of  cyclone,  anticyclone,  cyclone  will 
traverse  the  country  rapidly.  Then  there  will 
be  a  halt  all  along  the  line,  and  the  next  series, 
—  anticyclone,  cyclone,  anticyclone,  will  take 
three  days  longer  to  make  the  crossing.  Other- 
wise our  weather  would  have  a  deadening  regu- 
larity. 

On  an  average  our  storms  cross  the  country 
at  the  rate  of  about  six  hundred  miles  a  day. 
This  is  the  average.  Some  delay,  linger,  and 
wait  for  days  over  one  locality.  Others  do  a 
thousand  miles  in  the  twenty- four  hours.  They 
thicken  up  enough  to  cause  rain  from  two  hun- 
dred to  six  hundred  miles  in  advance  of  their 
centers.  It  stops  raining  not  long  after  the 
actual  center  has  passed. 

But  for  picnic  purposes  the  storm  is  far  from 
being  over.  For  even  though  continuous  rain- 
ing has  stopped  the  low  pressure  still  induces  a 
degenerate  sort  of  precipitation  called  showers, 
or  oftener  mist  for  another  twelve  hours  (usu- 
ally in  winter).  Then  as  the  cooling  influence 
of  the  anticyclone  approaches  the  rain  recom- 
mences. This  time  it  is  not  for  long,  however, 
and  is  followed  by  permanent  clearing,  the  wind 
shifting  into  the  west.  Sometimes  the  change 
to  blue  sky  is  abrupt.  But  if  the  subsequent  an- 


THE  STORM  CYCLE  61 

ticyclone  is  not  very  well  defined,  cloudy  condi- 
tions may  linger  for  a  couple  of  days.  Such 
clouds  are  usually  much  broken  and  show  white 
at  the  edges  and  never  cause  more  than  a  chilly 
feeling. 

This  attempt  to  outline  the  customary  cycle 
of  the  storm, —  clear  sky,  cirrus  cloud,  wind- 
shift  to  the  east,  the  denser  cirro-stratus,  the 
pavement-like  stratus,  the  woolly  nimbus,  the 
first  continuous  hours  of  rain,  the  misty  interval, 
the  windshift  to  the  west,  the  final  shower,  and 
breaking  cloud,  the  all-blue  sky  —  this  storm- 
schedule  is  always  subject  to  change.  But  the 
fundamentals  are  there  in  disguise  every  time. 
They  only  have  to  be  looked  for  and  there  is 
some  satisfaction  in  penetrating  the  disguise. 

When  a  storm  comes  up  the  Atlantic  Coast, 
as  happens  a  few  times  a  winter,  the  process  is 
shortened,  because  the  effects  of  the  larger  east- 
erly quadrants  are  felt  only  at  sea.  The  most 
prominent  recent  illustration  of  this  type  of 
storm  was  the  severe  snowstorm  that  swept  the 
coast  states  from  Carolina  to  Maine  the  Satur- 
day before  Easter,  1915.  Its  calendar  read  as 
follows:  Friday,  8  P.  M.,  cirrus  clouds  thicken- 
ing into  cirro-stratus.  Midnight,  stars  faintly 
visible,  wind  from  northeast,  12  miles  an  hour. 
Sunrise,  stratus  clouds,  wind  rising  in  gusts  at 


62     READING  THE  WEATHER 

Philadelphia  to  30  miles;  8  A.M.,  rapid  con- 
solidation of  clouds  with  snow  shortly  after, 
although  the  temperature  at  the  surface  of  the 
earth  was  as  high  as  seven  degrees  above  the 
freezing  point.  This  rapidly  dropped  to  freez- 
ing. Flakes  were  irregular  in  size.  Until  one 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  snow  thickened  with 
gusts  of  wind  up  to  forty  miles.  Snowfall  for 
five  hours  was  14  inches,  an  unprecedented  fall 
for  this  locality. 

Then  the  storm  waned  for  five  hours  more, 
5  inches  more  of  snow  falling.  Precipitation 
practically  ceased  at  6  P.  M.  By  sunrise  on 
Sunday  the  skies  were  free  of  clouds  and  the 
wind  blew  gently  from  the  northwest. 

Occasionally  a  high  pressure  area  out  at  sea 
and  beyond  the  ken  of  the  Weather  Bureau 
causes  one  of  these  coast  storms  to  curve  inward 
to  the  surprise  of  everybody.  Occasionally, 
too,  the  transcontinental  storms  are  driven 
north  or  south  of  their  accustomed  paths. 
While  the  divergence  may  be  slight,  it  causes  a 
margin  of  variance  from  the  accuracy  of  the  Bu- 
reau's report.  Then  arises  a  second  storm, — 
one  of  indignation  —  from  all  the  people  on 
one  side  of  the  strip  who  carried  umbrellas  to 
no  purpose,  and  from  the  others, —  who  didn't. 

This  pushing  aside  of  the  cyclone  is  caused  by 


THE  STORM  CYCLE  63 

pressure  variation  that  only  hourly  reports  from 
many  localities  could  detect.  Vast  hidden  influ- 
ences shift  the  weights  ever  so  little  and  the  me- 
teorological express  is  wrecked.  But  this  hap- 
pens, at  most,  fifteen  times  in  a  hundred,  and 
remembering  the  unseen  agencies  to  be  coped 
with  people  are  refraining  more  and  more  from 
the  tart  criticisms  of  former  times,  not  in  char- 
ity but  in  justice,  although  there  is  small  tend- 
ency yet  to  forward  eulogies  to  the  Bureau  in 
recognition  of  the  eighty-five  times  it  is  right. 


CHAPTER  IV 

SKY   SIGNS    FOR    CAMPERS 

THE  weather-wise,  even  more  so  than 
poets,  are  born.  But  that  only  goes  to 
say  that  weather-wisdom  can  be  fa- 
thered. For  poetry  and  canoeing  and  the  art 
of  making  fires,  once  the  desire  for  these  things 
is  born,  may  be  aided  infinitely  by  observation 
and  practice.  Nobody  can  teach  a  man  the 
smell  of  the  wind.  But  the  chap  who  feels  na- 
ture beating  under  his  heart  can,  by  taking 
thought,  add  anything  to  his  stature.  So  it  is 
with  those  who  are  called  weather-wise.  An 
unconscious  desire,  a  little  conscious  knowledge, 
a  good  deal  of  experimentation  with  the  cycle  of 
days,  and  you  have  a  weatherman. 

These  chapters  aim  to  put  the  little  conscious 
knowledge  into  the  hands  of  the  people  with  the 
unconscious  desire,  so  that  when  they  take  their 
week  in  the  woods  for  the  first  time  (and  their 
month  for  the  second  time)  they  may  enjoy  the 
shifting  scenery  of  the  sky-ocean  and,  inciden- 
tally, a  dry  skin.  For  I  take  it  that  everybody 

64 


SKY  SIQNS  FOR  CAMPERS     65 

will  soon  be  camping.  Maine  and  the  Adiron- 
dacks  have  become  a  family  barracks.  It  is  Hud- 
son Bay  for  bachelors.  And  over  this  expanse  of 
woods  and  children  the  weather  problem  ranks 
with  the  domestic  one.  For  naturally  if  a  soak- 
ing would  endanger  his  vacation  the  husband 
must  not  permit  a  rain, —  unexpectedly.  In  all 
seriousness,  it  is  of  avail  to  know  the  skies  if 
one  is  going  into  the  wilds  just  as  it  is  of  avail 
to  know  what  severed  arteries  demand,  what 
woods  burn  well,  and  what  mushrooms  can  be 
eaten,  even  though  one  can  get  along  without 
knowing  these  things  until  perchance  the  artery 
is  severed  or  the  arched  squall  catches  one  far 
from  shore. 

At  the  very  least,  one  grain  of  weather  wis- 
dom prevents  a  mush  of  discomfort.  And  if, 
fellow-camper,  the  following  observations  gath- 
ered on  a  thousand  thoughtless  walks  do  not 
tally  (for  the  northeastern  states)  with  yours, 
write  me,  so  that  in  the  end  we  may  finally  con- 
trive together  a  completer  handbook  of  our 
weather. 

THE  CLOUDS 

Clouds  are  signposts  on  the  highway  of  the 
winds.  Every  phase  of  the  weather,  except 
stark  clearness,  is  commented  upon  by  a  cloud 


66     READING  THE  WEATHER 

of  some  sort.  When  danger  is  close  they 
thicken.  When  it  passes  they  disappear.  The 
aviators  of  the  future  will  be  cloud-wary.  He 
who  flies  must  read  or  never  fly  again. 

The  cirrus  cloud  is  always  the  first  to  appear 
in  the  series  that  leads  up  to  the  storm.  It 
looks  like  the  tail  of  Pegasus  and  for  it  the  old 
forecasters  in  their  forecastles  made  a  special 
proverb. 

"Mackerel   scales   and  mares*  tails 
Make  lofty  ships  carry  low  sails." 

These  white  plumes  and  scrolls  which  are  in 
reality  glistening  ice-breath,  fly  at  the  height  of 
five,  six,  seven,  and  even  eight  miles.  And  as  a 
sign  of  coming  storm  they  are  about  as  infallible 
as  anything  may  be  in  this  erratic  world.  They 
were  born  in  the  cradle  of  a  storm.  The  storm 
center  was  breathing  warmed  air  upward  to 
great  heights,  and  although  the  disc  of  the 
storm  itself  was  only  two  or  three  miles  deep, 
its  nucleus,  crater-like,  shot  warm  columns  twice 
as  far.  With  just  enough  moisture  content  to 
make  a  showing  against  the  blue  these  streamers 
flowed  to  the  eastward.  At  those  dizzy  heights 
the  prevailing  westerlies  are  in  full  force,  blow- 
ing from  eighty  to  two  hundred  miles  an  hour 
night  after  night  and  day  after  day.  These 
westerlies  caught  the  storm  exhalations,  the 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     67 

streamers,  and  hurled  them  eastward  at  greater 
speed  than  the  main  body  of  the  storm.  And 
that  is  the  reason  that  we  see  these  cirrus  clouds 
always  eight,  mostly  twelve,  often  twenty-four 
and  sometimes  forty-eight  hours  before  the 
storm  is  due. 

Just  a  few  strands  of  cirrus  have  little  sig- 
nificance. They  may  be  condensation  from  a 
local  disturbance,  or  a  back  fling  from  a  past 
storm.  But  if  the  procession  of  the  cirri  has 
some  continuity  and  broadens  to  the  western 
horizon  it  is  a  sign  about  eight  times  in  ten  that 
a  cyclone  is  approaching.  Occasionally  the 
storm  center  is  too  far  to  the  south  or  north  to 
cause  rains  at  your  locality,  but  the  cirri  bank 
up  on  the  horizon  and  their  lacework  covers  the 
sky.  If  they  appear  to  be  moving  toward  the 
region  of  greatest  cloudiness  it  is  not  a  sign  of 
precipitation.  This  condition  is  most  apparent 
at  Philadelphia  when  the  storm  center  over  Ala- 
bama or  Mississippi  floats  out  to  sea  by  way  of 
Florida  without  having  the  energy  to  turn  north. 
Then  the  cirrus  is  seen  thickly  on  our  southern 
horizon.  Looking  closely  one  sees  that  the 
cirri  are  moving  from  the  northwest,  and  are 
being  drawn  into  the  storm  area  instead  of  pro- 
ceeding in  advance  of  it. 

Careful  watching  will  sometimes  enable  one 


68     READING  THE  WEATHER 

to  tell  whether  the  tails  are  increasing  or  de- 
creasing in  size.  If  they  dissolve  it  means  that 
the  cyclone  from  which  they  were  projected  is 
losing  strength  because  of  new  conditions. 
Cloudiness  may  follow  but  no  precipitation  of 
consequence.  Tke  plumy  tails  are  expressive: 
pointing  upward  they  mean  that  the  upward 
currents  are  strong  and  rain  will  follow;  point- 
ing downward  they  mean  that  the  cold  dry  upper 
currents  have  the  greater  weight  and  clear 
weather  is  likely.  In  summer  the  cirrus  cloud 
formations  are  not  such  certain  advance  agents 
of  rain  because  all  depressions  are  weaker  and 
less  able  to  confront  a  well-intrenched  drought. 
As  the  proverb  goes,  "  all  signs  of  rain  fail  in 
dry  weather,"  and  there  is  some  truth  in  it. 

The  fine  wavy  cirrus  clouds  often  increase  in 
number,  develop  in  texture  until  the  blue  sky 
has  become  veiled  with  a  muslin-like  layer  of 
mist.  This  is  the  cirro-stratus,  and  is  a  devel- 
opment of  the  cirrus,  but  it  does  not  fly  so  high. 
Its  significance  is  of  greater  humidity  and  is  the 
first  real  confirmation  of  the  earlier  promise  of 
the  cirri.  Another  form  that  the  cirro  stratus 
may  assume  is  the  mackerel  sky, —  clouds  with 
the  light  and  shade  of  the  scales  of  a  fish.  If 
this  formation  is  well-defined  and  following  cir- 
rus it  is  a  fairly  accurate  storm  indicator.  It  is 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     69 

not  quite  infallible,  however,  as  the  same  forms 
may  be  assumed  when  the  process  is  from  wet 
to  dry. 

The  old  proverb,  "  Mackerel  sky,  soon  wet 
or  soon  dry,"  expresses  this  uncertainty.  If 
dry  is  to  follow  the  scales  will  appreciably  lessen 
in  size  and  perhaps  disappear.  If  the  cirro- 
stratus  or  scaly  clouds  are  followed  by  a  con- 
spicuous lowering  it  is  only  a  question  of  a  few 
hours  until  precipitation  begins.  The  cirro- 
stratus  at  a  lower  level  is  called  alto-stratus  and 
this  becomes  heavy  enough  to  obscure  the  sun. 

The  cloud  process  from  stratus  on  is  slow 
or  rapid,  depending  upon  the  energy  of  the 
coming  storm  and  the  rate  of  its  approach.  In 
most  cases  the  clouds  darken,  solidify,  and  be- 
come a  uniform  gray,  no  shadows  thrown,  no 
joints.  Soon  after  the  leaden  hues  are  thus 
seamless  the  first  snowflake  falls.  If  it  doesn't 
it  is  a  sign  that  the  process  of  condensation  is 
halting:  the  storm  will  not  be  severe.  Some- 
times there  is  no  precipitation  after  all  this  prep- 
aration, but  under  these  circumstances  the  wind 
has  not  ventured  much  east  of  north.  From  the 
time  that  the  snow  starts  the  clouds  have  chance 
to  tell  little.  Only  by  a  process  of  relative 
lightening  or  darkening  can  the  progress  of  the 
storm  be  followed  and  the  wind,  and  not  the 


70     READING  THE  WEATHER 

clouds  at  all,  is  the  factor  to  be  watched;  for  oc- 
casionally the  sun  may  shine  through  the  tenu- 
ous snowclouds  without  presaging  any  genuine 
clearing  so  long  as  the  wind  is  in  the  east. 

But  in  summer  the  clouds  become  even  more 
eloquent  than  the  wind.  The  rain-cloud,  called 
the  nimbus,  becomes  different  from  the  dull  win- 
ter spectacle.  In  summer  air  becomes  heated 
much  more  quickly  and  the  warm  currents  pour 
up  into  the  cold  altitudes  where  they  condense 
into  the  marvelous  Mont  Blancs  (or  ice-cream 
cones)  of  a  summer  afternoon.  These  piled 
masses  of  vapor  are  cumulus  clouds,  and  if  they 
don't  overdo  the  matter  are  a  sign  of  fair 
weather.  They  should  appear  as  little  cottony 
puffs  about  ten  or  eleven  in  the  morning,  in- 
crease slowly  in  size,  rear  their  dazzling  heads 
and  then  start  to  melt  about  four  in  the  after- 
noon. 

But  perhaps  the  upward  rush  of  warm,  moist 
air  has  been  so  great  in  the  morning  that  the  aft- 
ernoon cooling  cannot  dispose  of  it  all  without 
spilling.  Then  occurs  a  little  shower, —  the 
April  sort.  Often  in  our  mountainous  districts 
it  showers  every  day  for  this  reason.  The 
great  thunderstorms  come  for  greater  reasons : 
they  are  yoked  to  a  low  pressure  area  and  rep- 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     71 

resent  the  summer's  brother  to  the  winter's 
three-day  storm. 

Cumulus  clouds  are  called  fair  weather  clouds 
until  their  bellies  swell  and  blacken  and  they 
begin  to  form  a  combination  in  restraint  of  sun- 
light. Even  then  it  will  not  rain  so  much  out 
of  the  blackness  as  out  of  the  grayness  behind  it, 
and  if  there  is  no  grayness  chances  are  that  you 
will  escape  a  wetting.  One  can  almost  always 
measure  the  amount  of  rain  that  is  imminent  by 
the  density  of  the  curtain  being  let  down  from 
the  rear  of  the  cloud.  If  you  can  see  the  other 
clouds  through  it  or  the  landscape  the  shower 
will  be  slight.  If  a  gray  curtain  obscures  every- 
thing behind  it  you  had  better  pull  your  canoe 
out  of  the  water  and  hide  under  it  if  time  is  less 
valuable  than  a  dry  skin.  Such  showers  may 
be  successive  but  rarely  continuous. 

Rain  clouds  have  been  observed  within  230 
yards  of  the  ground.  Very  often  it  can  be  seen 
to  rain  from  lofty  clouds  and  the  fringe  of 
moisture  apparently  fail  to  reach  the  earth,  be- 
cause the  condensation  was  licked  up  and  totally 
absorbed  on  entering  a  stratum  of  warmer  air. 
The  reverse  of  this  occurs  on  rare  occasions;  — 
condensation  takes  place  so  rapidly  that  a  cloud 
does  not  have  time  to  form,  and  rain  comes 


73     BEADING  THE  WEATHER 

from  an  apparently  clear  sky.  This  phenome- 
non has  been  witnessed  oftenest  in  dry  regions 
and  never  for  very  long  or  in  great  amounts,  al- 
though a  half  hour  of  this  sort  of  disembodied 
storm  is  on  record. 

If  the  cumulus  clouds  of  the  summer's  after- 
noon do  not  decrease  in  size  as  evening  ap- 
proaches showers  may  be  looked  for  during  the 
night.  And  if  the  morning  sfcy  is  full  of  these 
puffy  little  clouds  the  day's  evaporation  on  add- 
ing to  them  will  probably  cause  rain.  A  trained 
eye  will  distinguish  between  a  stale  and  fresh 
appearance  in  cloud  formation,  the  light,  newly 
made,  fresh  clouds,  like  fresh  bread,  contain 
more  moisture.  If  the  clouds  have  much  white 
about  them  they  need  not  be  feared  as  rain- 
bearers.  Clouds  are  much  higher  in  summer 
than  in  winter  and  the  raindrops  of  warm  air 
are  larger  than  those  of  cool. 

If  cumulus  clouds  heap  up  to  leeward,  that 
is,  to  the  north,  or  northwest  on  a  south  or 
southwest  wind  a  heavy  storm  is  sure  to  follow. 
This  is  notably  so  as  regards  the  series  of  show- 
ers in  connection  with  the  passage  of  a  low- 
pressure  area.  The  wind  will  bear  heavy  show- 
ers from  the  south  (in  summer)  for  a  whole 
morning  and  half  the  afternoon  with  intervals 
of  brilliant  sky  and  burning  sun.  Or  perhaps 


SKY  SIGNS  FOB  CAMPERS     73 

the  south  wind  will  not  produce  showers,  but  all 
the  time  along  the  northwest  horizon  a  bank  of 
cloud  grows  blacker  and  approaches  the  zenith, 
flying  in  the  face  of  the  wind  or  tacking  like  a 
squadron  against  it.  About  the  time  that  the 
lightning  becomes  noticeable  and  the  thunder  is 
heard  the  wind  drops  suddenly,  veers  into  the 
west,  and  the  face  of  things  darkens  with  the 
onrush  of  the  tempest. 

Although  no  rain  may  have  fallen  while  the 
wind  was  in  the  southern  quarter  yet  that  con- 
stituted the  first  half  of  the  storm  and  the  on- 
slaught of  rain  and  thunder  the  second.  While 
the  storm  area  moved  from  the  west  to  the  east 
the  circulation  of  air  about  the  center  was  viv- 
idly demonstrated  by  the  south  wind  blowing 
into  the  depression,  whose  center  was  epito- 
mized by  the  moment  of  calm  before  the  charge 
of  the  plumed  thunderheads  from  the  north- 
west. 

Most  camping  is  done  either  in  hilly  or  moun- 
tainous country  where  the  movement  of  clouds 
is  swifter  and  more  changeable  than  over  flat 
lands.  There  is  one  sign  of  great  reliability: 
if  the  mountains  put  on  their  nightcaps  the 
weather  is  changing  for  the  wetter,  and  if  clouds 
rise  on  the  slopes  of  the  hills  or  up  ravines,  or 
increase  their  height  noticeably  over  the  moun- 


74     BEADING  THE  WEATHER 

tain-tops,  the  weather  is  changing  for  the  dryer. 
In  the  mountains  where  abrupt  cliffs  toss  the 
winds  with  all  their  moisture  to  heights  that  cool 
clouds  form  and  condense  rapidly  and  the 
weather  changes  quickly.  But  even  in  the 
mountains  the  big  changes  give  plenty  of  warn- 
ing. 

Often  clouds  may  be  noticed  moving  in  two 
or  even  three  directions  on  different  levels  at 
once.  The  upper  stratum  will  probably  be  cir- 
rus from  the  west.  Cumulus  or  stratus  may  be 
floating  up  from  the  south.  A  light  drift  of 
vapor  called  scud  may  fly  on  the  surface  easterly 
wind.  Such  a  confused  condition  of  wind  cir- 
culation betokens  an  unsettled  system  of  air 
pressures  and  as  frequent  collisions  of  the  air 
bodies  at  varying  temperatures  are  inevitable 
rains,  probably  heavy,  will  follow. 

On  clear  days  one  will  be  surprised  to  see  iso- 
lated clouds,  usually  the  torn,  thin  sort,  drifting 
across  the  sky  from  the  east.  A  change  will  fol- 
low soon. 

In  winter  black,  hard  clouds  betoken  a  bleak 
wind. 

Clear  winter  days  several  times  a  season 
show  a  brilliant  blue  sky  filling  with  great  cumu- 
lus clouds  of  dark  blue,  blurred  at  the  top  and 
gray  at  the  base.  They  will  sprinkle  snow  in 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     75 

smart,  short  flurries,  and  are  ushering  in  a  pe- 
riod of  clear  and  much  colder  weather. 

A  sky  full  of  white  clouds  and  much  light  is 
a  cheerful  sign  of  continuing  fair  weather. 

The  softer  the  sky  the  milder  the  weather 
and  the  more  gentle  the  wind.  It  is  the  dark 
gloomy  blues  that  bring  the  wind.  But  do  not 
mistake  the  woolly  softness  of  the  rolling  clouds 
before  a  thunderstorm.  A  sudden  and  often 
violent  gust  follows.  Tumbling  clouds  in  any 
event  should  make  one  wary  of  venturing  on 
water.  Summer  drownings  would  not  be  so  nu- 
merous if  the  portent  of  the  squall  were  heeded. 

To  this  data  might  be  added  many  singular 
cloud  formations  that  are  not  observed  often. 
The  funnel  shaped  cloud  of  the  tornado,  the 
green  shades  of  the  hurricane  cloud,  the  green 
sky  of  cold  weather  showing  out  between  layers 
of  steel  blue,  coppery  tints  that  show  before 
heavy  storms  sometimes,  variations  of  color  at 
sunset  each  of  which  has  a  meaning  which  prac- 
tice in  deciphering  will  make  clear.  But 
enough  has  been  given  to  show  sky-searchers 
how  many  are  the  tips  of  coming  weather  that 
may  be  read  from  a  conglomeration  of  fog  par- 
ticles. Nobody  with  eyes  should  be  caught  un- 
awares by  day.  The  look  of  the  sunset  shad- 
ows forth  much  of  the  coming  night.  And 


76     READING  THE  WEATHER 

throughout  all  this  truth  holds :  the  greater  the 
coming  storm  the  longer  and  clearer  are  the 
warnings  given  to  the  watchful. 

THE  WINDS 

The  wind  is  the  ring-master  of  the  clouds. 
It  whistles  and  they  obey.  Therefore  to  be 
windwise  is  to  be  weatherwise,  almost. 

One  can  get  a  hold  on  the  wind  by  learning 
to  gauge  its  strength.  Look  at  the  trees  or  the 
smoke  from  your  city  chimneys  and  guess  how 
fast  it  blows  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning,  or 
eight  at  night.  The  weather  report  the  next 
day  will  tell  you  how  nearly  you  were  right. 

Beginning  is  easy;  anybody  can  guess  a 
calm.  When  the  leaves  are  just  moving  lazily 
the  Weather  Bureau  calls  it  a  light  or  gentle 
breeze,  moving  from  2  to  5  miles  an  hour.  A 
fresh  breeze,  from  6  to  15  miles  will  stir  the 
twigs  at  first  and  finally  swing  the  branches 
about.  From  16  to  25  miles,  a  brisk  wind,  will 
cause  white  caps  on  the  lakes,  tossing  the  tops 
of  the  trees,  but  breaking  only  small  twigs.  In- 
creasing from  26  to  40  miles  it  becomes  a  high 
wind  that  breaks  branches  on  trees,  wrecks  signs 
in  the  towns,  causes  high  waves  at  sea  and  roars 
like  the  ocean  in  heavy  squalls  through  the 
woods.  From  40  to  60  miles  an  hour  makes  a 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     77 

gale.  Sailing  craft  are  now  in  danger.  The 
pressure  at  50  miles  an  hour  is  13  pounds  to  the 
square  foot,  having  risen  from  three-quarters 
of  an  ounce  at  3  miles.  This  pressure  becomes 
40  pounds  per  foot  when  the  wind  reaches  a  ve- 
locity of  90  miles. 

At  60  trees  are  uprooted,  chimneys  may  go,  it 
is  difficult  to  walk  against,  the  noise  becomes 
very  great  but  rather  inspires  than  frightens. 
As  the  gale  increases  from  60  to  80  (which  ve- 
locity the  Bureau  rather  weakly  calls  a  storm 
wind),  danger  rapidly  increases.  Trees  are 
prostrated,  the  uproar  becomes  terrifying,  walk- 
ing without  aid  is  impossible,  the  great  ocean 
liners  are  in  danger,  the  sea  becomes  a  whitened 
surface  of  driving  spume  that  heaps  up  into 
piles  of  water  thirty  or  more  feet  high,  windows 
are  blown  in  and  frame  houses  cannot  stand 
much  greater  velocities.  Anything  from  80 
miles  an  hour  up  is  well  called  a  hurricane. 
Everything  goes  at  100.  At  Galveston  the  ma- 
chine that  registered  the  wind  velocity  blew 
away  at  100. 

They  have  better  instruments  now,  and  in 
many  places  velocities  of  over  a  hundred  miles 
an  hour  have  been  recorded.  As  high  as  186 
miles  was  registered  on  the  top  of  Mt.  Wash- 
ington, and  in  a  single  gust  no  at  Montreal. 


78     READING  THE  WEATHER 

The  great  hurricane  winds  are  most  felt  at  a 
few  of  the  exposed  places  on  our  coasts.  Cape 
Mendocino,  on  the  Pacific,  has  144  miles  an 
hour  to  its  credit  in  a  January  hurricane.  But 
enough  destruction  is  done  at  90  miles.  Fields 
are  stripped  of  their  crops,  or  leveled;  houses 
are  demolished  unless  they  are  specially  built, 
like  the  New  York  sky-scrapers,  to  withstand 
much  higher  velocities.  In  the  small  whirling 
storms  called  tornadoes  the  wind  is  estimated  to 
reach  a  velocity  of  200  to  500  miles,  and  noth- 
ing but  the  cyclone  cellar  will  shelter  one  from 
the  fury  of  the  elements  when  they  are  really 
unleashed. 

The  higher  one  goes  the  greater  the  velocity 
of  the  wind.  On  the  top  of  Mt.  Washington 
100  miles  is  rather  common  for  hours  at  a  time 
and  150  is  recorded  now  and  then.  That  is 
only  6000  feet  above  Boston.  If  such  a  force 
struck  Boston  for  a  minute  it  would  be  blown  en 
masse  into  the  Bay. 

Velocities  on  land  are  less  than  those  at  sea, 
because  of  the  resulting  friction  from  obstacles. 
Velocities  in  summer  are  lower  (thunder  gusts 
excepted)  than  in  winter.  Since  the  wind  is 
caused  by  differences  in  atmospheric  pressure, 
and  that  in  turn  by  disparities  in  temperature, 


SKY  SIGNS  FOE  CAMPERS     79 

winter  holds  the  palm  for  greater  velocities  be- 
cause the  wide  whirl  of  a  cyclone  over  the  great 
plains  may  cause  to  mix  air  from  Texas  with  a 
temperature  of  60  degrees  with  air  from  Mon- 
tana of  30  degrees  below  zero,  while  the  sum- 
mer temperatures  in  both  states  might  easily  be 
80  degrees. 

Throughout  most  of  our  land  certain  winds 
have  always  the  same  bearing  upon  the  weather 
and  this  correspondence  is  roughly  the  same 
over  most  of  the  country.  West  winds,  for  in- 
stance, are  an  almost  universal  guarantee  of 
clear  weather.  The  Pacific  Coast  and  western 
Florida  are  the  exceptions. 

Northwest  winds  bring  clear  skies  and  cool 
weather  everywhere.  In  winter  in  the  north 
plateau  section  heavy  snows  arrive  in  advance 
of  the  severe  cold  waves  that  come  on  these 
northwest  gales. 

North  winds  are  the  cold  bearing  ones. 
Clear  skies  prevail  under  their  influence. 

Northeast  winds  are  cold,  raw  snow-bearing 
winds  in  winter  and  spring  and  bring  chilly  rains 
in  midsummer. 

East  winds  are  the  surest  rainbringers  of  all 
for  the  eastern  two-thirds  of  the  country,  and 
are  soon  followed  by  rain  with  a  shift  of  wind 


80     READING  THE  WEATHER 

over  the  other  third.  Their  temperatures  are 
more  moderate  than  those  of  the  northeast 
storms. 

The  greatest  falls  of  rain  occur,  however, 
with  the  southeast  winds,  whose  moisture  con- 
tent is  greater  than  that  of  the  others  because 
they  are  warmer  and  blow  off  water  except  in 
Rocky  Mountain  districts. 

South  winds  are  warm  and  contain  much  mois- 
ture, which  falls  in  showers  rather  than  in  con- 
tinuous rains. 

The  southwest  winds  of  winter  precede  a 
thaw  and  are  much  damper  than  west  winds. 
In  summer  over  much  of  our  country  they  are 
hot,  parching  winds  that  injure  vegetation. 

The  average  velocity  of  the  wind  from  these 
different  quarters  is  variable  in  different  parts 
of  the  country,  the  severest  being  on  the  south- 
east and  northwest  quadrants.  The  highest 
winds  are  always  where  the  steepest  gradients 
are;  that  is,  where  the  barometric  pressure  de- 
creases or  increases  the  fastest.  The  steepest 
gradients  are  usually  on  the  northeast  and  north- 
west sides  of  the  storm  center,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  Atlantic  Coast  where  the  southeast 
winds  are  often  highest.  The  average  for  the 
northeast  quadrant  is  16  miles,  for  S.  E.  30,  for 
S.  W.  20,  and  for  the  N.  W.  30  miles  an  hour. 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     81 

But  averages  can  deceive.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
single  instances  of  great  wind  velocities  occur 
from  each  point  of  the  compass.  The  greatest 
velocity  ever  recorded  at  Philadelphia  occurred 
in  October,  1878,  when  the  wind  blew  seventy- 
five  miles  an  hour  from  the  southeast.  But  the 
record  velocities  for  eight  of  the  other  months 
were  registered  in  the  northwest  quadrant. 

The  period  of  time  when  the  barometer  is  be- 
ginning to  rise  after  having  been  very  low  is 
that  when  the  strongest  winds  blow. 

Some  sections  of  our  country  have  special 
kinds  of  wind  that  are  peculiarly  their  own,  no- 
tably Colorado,  Wyoming,  and  Montana  where 
the  chinook  reigns.  This  phenonemon  belongs 
only  to  the  cold  season  and  only  to  the  coldest 
days  of  it.  It  is  a  warm  wind  that  begins  to 
blow  without  much  warning  from  the  southern 
quarter.  It  is  caused  by  a  body  of  cold  air  sud- 
denly falling  from  a  great  height.  As  it  falls 
its  descent  heats  it  and  it  causes  a  rise  in  the 
temperature  of  the  surrounding  locality  that 
greatly  exceeds  any  rise  from  other  causes. 
The  increase  in  temperature  will  be  as  much  as 
forty  degrees  in  fifteen  minutes. 

This  sudden  dry  heat  is  a  great  snow-eater. 
If  it  were  not  for  the  chinook  the  snow-blanket 
would  stay  so  much  longer  on  the  cattle  ranges 


82     READING  THE  WEATHER 

that  they  would  be  useless  as  such.  In  north- 
eastern sections  of  our  country  and  Canada  the 
warm  winds  blowing  in  from  the  ocean  at  the 
approach  of  a  cyclone  do  away  with  the  snow 
rapidly  but  with  .nothing  like  the  speed  of  the 
chinook. 

Another  phenomenon  of  the  air  that  is  of 
tremendous  benefit  to  man  is  the  sea-breeze. 
During  the  intense  heat  of  a  hot  wave  the  wind 
may  shift  to  the  east  in  Boston  and  in  fifteen 
minutes  coats  are  comfortable.  Such  a  shift 
may  bring  relief  to  a  strip  of  land  two  hundred 
miles  wide  along  our  entire  eastern  seaboard. 
The  sea-breeze  is  explained  by  the  fact  that  the 
land  cools  more  quickly  than  the  sea  and  also 
warms  more  easily.  During  the  whole  fore- 
noon of  a  summer's  day  the  sun  has  been  pour- 
ing upon  land  and  sea,  but  the  land-air  has  be- 
come much  hotter  than  the  air  over  the  sea.  It 
rises  and  the  sea-air  rushes  landward.  By  mid- 
night the  land  has  cooled  off  even  more  than  the 
sea  and  the  heavier  air  now  presses  out  to  sea 
again.  On  every  normal  day  this  balancing 
process  takes  place. 

If  it  doesn't  conditions  are  abnormal  and 
chances  are  that  mischief  is  brewing.  This  ebb 
and  flow  of  warmer  and  cooler  air  is,  on  a  small 
scale,  exactly  what  is  happening  on  a  vastly 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     83 

larger  field  of  operations  between  cyclone  and 
anticyclone.  And  it  is  the  dominance  of  the 
anticyclone  with  its  prolonged  rush  of  air  from 
the  northwest  that  interrupts  the  sea  breeze  for 
two  or  three  days  in  winter,  as  the  cyclone  pre- 
vents the  night  land  breeze  from  taking  place 
when  it  is  central  off  the  eastern  coast. 

The  exchange  of  air  between  mountain  side 
and  valley  is  similar  to  the  land-and-sea  breeze. 
The  rarer  air  on  the  mountain  side  heats  faster 
by  day  and  cools  faster  by  night  than  the  denser 
air  in  the  valley.  Therefore  during  the  day  it 
rises  and  the  valley  air  rushes  up  to  take  its 
place ;  during  the  night  it  cools  and  sinks  into 
the  valley.  This  is  a  great  help  when  one  is 
shut  up  in  a  secluded  valley  for  several  days  and 
cannot  get  a  good  view  of  the  skies.  The  at- 
mosphere is  acting  properly  and  will  remain  set- 
tled so  long  as  the  air  blows  up  your  ravine  for 
most  of  the  day,  and  turns  about  sundown  and 
blows  out  and  down  the  ravine  like  a  flood  of 
refreshing  water. 

Of  course  many  valleys  are  so  large  as  to  be 
affected,  not  by  these  local  causes,  but  by  the 
larger  movements  of  the  anticyclones  when  the 
sure-clear  west  wind  may  blow  up  the  valley  for 
three  days  at  a  time.  But,  nevertheless,  for 
most  mountainous  places  the  logic  holds  and  you 


84     READING  THE  WEATHER 

may  expect  rain  if  the  wind  does  not  blow  coolly 
down  the  ravine  at  night.  Of  course  watch 
your  clouds  for  confirmation. 

In  times  of  calm  prepare  for  storm.  An  emi- 
nent meteorologist  has  frowned  upon  me  for 
saying  that.  It  is  not  the  whole  truth,  I  admit, 
but  there  is  a  certain  kind  of  calm  which  hap- 
pens often  enough  to  justify  the  remark.  It 
happens  this  way.  A  severe  storm  has  passed. 
The  customary  anticyclone  with  its  brisk  north- 
west winds  has  arrived  and  is  blowing  with  all 
the  vigor  necessary  to  induce  one  to  believe  that 
the  clear  weather  is  to  continue  for  the  usual 
length  of  time;  that  is,  three  or  four  days. 
But  suddenly  in  the  early  afternoon,  just  when 
it  should  be  blowing  its  hardest,  the  wind  drops, 
lulls,  shows  a  tendency  to  change  its  direction. 
There  is  only  one  explanation.  Another  cy- 
clone has  developed  off  in  the  west.  It  has 
knocked  the  anticyclone  on  the  flank,  taken  the 
teeth  out  of  the  gale. 

The  wind  shows  this  before  clouds  can.  The 
absence  of  wind  when  there  ought  to  be  a  lot 
shows  it  before  even  the  first  cirrus  swims  over- 
head. The  chance  is  that  when  the  flow  of  an- 
ticyclonic  air  has  been  thus  rudely  cut  off  and 
stillness  follows,  it  will  be  storming  by  morning. 
It  is  best  to  keep  an  eye  on  these  abnormal,  pre- 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     85 

cipitous  calms.  In  times  of  peace  prepare  for 
rain. 

But  the  eminent  meteorologist  was  eminently 
right  when  he  said  that  the  statement  was  mis- 
leading unless  explained.  For  there  are  many 
kinds  of  calms  that  do  not  portend  coming 
storms.  Nearly  every  day,  winter  and  summer, 
but  particularly  in  summer,  the  wind  drops  to  a 
calm  at  sunset.  That  is  a  time  of  adjustment. 
After  sunset  when  the  accounts  are  all  in  the 
wind  springs  up  with  as  much  force  as  it  had  in 
the  afternoon  and  continues  until  dawn.  At 
sunrise,  however,  there  is  another  truce.  If 
this  truce  is  neglected  either  at  sunrise  or  at  sun- 
set it  is  a  sign  that  either  a  cyclone  on  an  anti- 
cyclone is  very  much  in  the  ascendency.  These 
truces  are  most  often  observed  at  the  seashore 
when  you  are  out  sailing  and  the  smell  of  sup- 
per fills  your  nostrils  but  is  not  sufficient  to  fill 
your  sails.  These  calms  are  normal  and  the 
best  sign  of  a  fair  day  on  the  morrow,  provided 
the  other  signs  agree. 

During  the  great  transition  period  from  sum- 
mer to  winter  comes  that  autumnal  truce,  Indian 
Summer,  which  is  the  chief  claim  to  fame  of 
American  weather.  For  day  after  day  a  brood- 
ing haze  sleeps  in  the  air,  sometimes  for  weeks 
there  is  no  wind  of  any  strength.  Winter  ad- 


86     READING  THE  WEATHER 

vances  insidiously  in  the  fall  but  retreats  in  com- 
motion, and  the  cooling  off  process  permits  of 
these  still  days  while  they  are  uncommon  in  the 
spring.  The  wind  checks  off  more  mileage  in 
March  than  in  any  other  month. 

While  the  regular  day's  end  calm  and  the 
calm  of  the  year's  exhaustion  mean  continued 
fair  weather,  there  is  one  calm  that  everybody 
knows,  which  is  the  most  dramatic  moment  in 
the  whole  repertory  of  the  weather:  the  fore- 
boding, ten-count  wait  before  the  knockout  blow 
of  the  thunderstorm.  But  when  that  calm 
comes  every  one  is  already  sitting  tight  so  that 
it  is  not  much  account  as  a  warning.  They  say 
that  the  intense  stillness  before  the  hurricane 
strikes  is  uncanny. 

Whether  inshore  or  afloat  the  wind  is  to  be 
watched  if  you  would  know  what  weather  is  to 
be.  It  is  only  another  of  Nature's  paradoxes 
that  the  most  unstable  element  should  be  the 
most  reliable  guide  of  all  on  the  uncertain  trail 
of  the  next  day's  weather. 

TEMPERATURES 

Considering  that  the  temperature  of  the  sun 
is  14,072  degrees  Fahrenheit  and  the  tempera- 
ture of  space  is  absolute  zero,  459  degrees  be- 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     87 

low  ours,  we  do  very  well  on  earth  to  be  as  com- 
fortable as  we  are. 

And  we  owe  it  all  to  the  atmosphere  which 
keeps  the  sun  from  concentrating  upon  us.  Our 
place  in  the  sun  is  so  very  small  that  we  intercept 
only  one-half  of  one  billionth  of  the  heat  which 
it  is  giving  off  night  and  day.  But  that  is  suffi- 
cient to  do  a  lot  of  damage  if  it  could  get  at  us. 

But  even  the  paltry  range  of  temperatures  so 
far  recorded  on  our  planet, —  from  134  degrees 
above  zero  one  day  in  California,  to  90  degrees 
below  zero  one  night  in  Siberia, —  is*  by  no 
means  a  fair  statement  of  the  extremes  we  are 
called  upon  to  bear.  Only  twice  a  decade  in  our 
country  does  the  mercury  vary  as  much  as  sixty 
degrees  in  twenty-four  hours,  and  there  are  vast 
areas  where  the  daily  change  amounts  to  only  a 
few  degrees. 

The  changes  that  do  come  so  suddenly  to  us, 
particularly  in  winter  and  that  are  known  as 
cold  waves,  are  in  reality  beneficial.  To  them 
we  Americans  may  owe  our  energy,  our  vivacity, 
our  changeability  of  mood.  The  refrigerated, 
revivified  air  sweeping  down  from  the  north  is 
tonic.  It  is  heavy,  and  issuing  from  antiseptic 
altitudes,  drives  the  humid,  germ-nursing  air 
from  our  city  streets.  If  we  had  arranged  a 


88     READING  THE  WEATHER 

process  of  refreshment  like  this  at  vast  expense 
we  should  have  been  intensely  proud  of  it.  As 
it  is  we  are  intensely  annoyed  at  it  and  occasion- 
ally a  few  people  are  frozen  to  death.  The 
Weather  Bureau  warnings  and  the  coal  clubs  are 
reducing  the  loss  in  property  and  lives. 

If  you  are  sleeping  out  it  is  of  great  impor- 
tance to  know  when  the  mercury  is  going  to  take 
one  of  these  swoops,  for  sleeping  cold  means 
little  real  rest  because  one's  muscles  are  tense, 
and  the  next  day's  packing  needs  all  the  relaxa- 
tion one  can  get.  Two  generalizations  govern 
pretty  much  every  change  of  temperature :  the 
mercury  will  rise  before  a  storm  and  it  will  fall 
after  one,  winter  and  summer,  but  much  more 
conspicuously  in  winter. 

There  are  two  reasons  for  this.  Our  cy- 
clones usually  cross  our  country  over  such  a 
northern  track  that  over  most  of  the  country  the 
air  drawn  into  them  comes  from  the  southern 
quarters  and  is  therefore  warmer  than  the  air 
previously  flowing  from  the  anticyclone.  Also 
the  process  of  precipitation  causes  heat.  This 
is  true  to  such  an  extent  on  the  coast  of  Ireland 
where  it  rains  most  of  the  time  that  a  scientist 
has  computed  that  the  inhabitants  get  from  one- 
third  to  one-half  as  much  heat  from  the  rainfall 
as  they  do  directly  from  the  sun.  Thus  a  nor- 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     89 

mal  storm  is  doubly  sure  to  warm  up  the  en- 
vironment. 

In  summer  the  reverse  is  partially  true,  for 
very  often  the  rain  does  not  begin  until  the 
actual  center  of  depression  has  passed  and  the 
west  winds  have  begun  to  exercise  their  cooling 
influence.  So  that  in  summer  we  have  a  sultry, 
sunny  day  as  the  first  half  of  the  storm  area  and 
then  a  cooling  shower.  Also  after  two  or  three 
days  of  warm  weather  in  spring  and  autumn  we 
have  a  rainstorm  of  the  winter  type  which  low- 
ers the  temperature  instead  of  raising  it.  This 
is  because  the  heat  produced  by  the  storm  is  less 
than  that  of  the  sun's  rays  intercepted  by  the 
clouds.  The  clear  skies  of  the  preceding  anti- 
cyclone had  permitted  the  land  to  warm  up  very 
fast  under  the  midsummer  sun,  and  the  clouds 
of  the  cyclone,  by  cutting  off  the  supply,  had 
made  a  relative  chill. 

In  winter  the  sunrays  are  so  much  feebler  be- 
cause of  their  slant  and  radiation  proceeds  so 
rapidly  under  the  dry  air  of  the  anticyclone  that 
a  much  greater  degree  of  cold  is  produced  than 
when  the  cyclonic  clouds  prevent  the  radiation. 
Therefore  the  rainy  area  is  the  warmest  of  all. 
Even  in  summer  the  winds  from  the  southeast, 
south,  and  southwest  are  warmer  than  those 
from  the  opposite  quarters,  not  only  because 


90     READING  THE  WEATHER 

they  blow  from  a  quarter  naturally  warmer  on 
account  of  the  sun,  but  because  they  are  surface 
winds  and  have  absorbed  some  of  the  heat  from 
the  soil.  Being  denser,  they  absorb  it  more 
readily  and  hold  it  longer. 

The  change,  then,  from  the  period  of  fair 
weather  to  that  of  storm  brings  an  increase  of 
temperature.  But  the  rate  of  increase  varies. 
The  faster  the  storm  is  approaching  the  faster 
the  temperature  will  rise;  and  the  route  of  the 
storm's  center  makes  all  the  difference  as  to  the 
amount  of  the  rise.  If  the  wind  shifts  by  way 
of  the  north  and  holds  in  the  northeast  until 
precipitation  begins  the  rise  in  temperature  will 
be  very  slight.  The  great  snowstorms  of  the 
northern  half  of  the  country  occur  under  just 
such  a  circumstance.  If  the  wind  shifts  by  way 
of  the  north  but  gets  around  to  the  east  or  even 
southeast  before  the  precipitation  starts  the  rise 
in  temperature  will  be  more  pronounced,  as 
much  as  thirty  degrees  sometimes  in  a  few 
hours,  and  the  winter  storm  that  started  in  as 
snow  soon  changes  to  sleet  and  rain. 

If  the  wind  shifts  by  way  of  the  south  and 
then  into  the  southeast  the  rise  will  be  vigorous 
and  the  storm  will  likely  be  a  comparatively 
warm  rain.  If  the  wind  shifts  only  so  far  as 
the  south  the  rise  will  be  highest  of  all  and  blue 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     91 

sky  will  often  appear  between  the  showers, 
showing  that  the  air  is  heated  to  a  considerable 
height. 

The  progress  of  the  temperature  changes 
from  the  maximum  of  the  cyclonic  area  to  the 
minimum  of  the  anticyclone  is  also  dependent 
upon  the  wind.  If  the  storm  center  is  passing 
south  and  the  wind  begins  to  pull  into  the  north- 
east and  north  the  temperature  will  fall  steadily 
and  slowly.  The  rain  or  snow  often  cease 
gradually  by  the  time  the  wind  has  reached  the 
north,  but  the  temperature  continues  to  fall 
slowly  until  it  reaches  very  low  levels  in  mid- 
winter. If  the  storm  center  is  passing  north  of 
you  the  wind  which  has  brought  most  of  the 
rain  while  it  was  in  the  southeast  with  compara- 
tively high  temperatures  swings  into  the  south- 
west, the  temperature  falls  somewhat. 

There  is  usually  a  final  downpour  and  a  rapid 
shift  of  the  wind  into  the  west  or  northwest,  but 
almost  never  directly  into  the  north.  The  tem- 
perature falls  several  degrees  in  a  few  minutes, 
quite  unlike  the  gradual  decline  of  the  north- 
east-by-north  shift,  and  clear  skies  come  at  once 
with  rapidly  diminishing  temperatures.  In  the 
vicinity  of  Philadelphia  a  fall  of  twenty-five  de- 
grees would  be  most  unusual  on  the  northeast 
shift, —  such  storms  reaching  38  degrees  and 


92     READING  THE  WEATHER 

falling  to  15,  while  with  the  other  shift  a  fall 
from  55  degrees  to  15  would  not  be  unusual. 
Of  course  any  one  set  of  figures  given  could  only 
show  the  tendency  and  not  the  rule  or  limits. 

After  the  manner  of  the  wind-shift  the  inten- 
sity of  the  storm  is  a  good  gauge  of  the  tempera- 
ture change  to  be  expected  by  the  camper.  As 
a  rule  the  greater  the  intensity  of  the  storm  the 
greater  will  be  the  degree  of  cold  that  follows  it. 
The  storms  that  have  a  complete  wind  circula- 
tion about  them  are  always  more  severe  than 
those  with  incomplete  circulation  and  are  in- 
variably followed  up  by  some  reduction  in  tem- 
perature. If  the  decrease  is  not  proportion- 
ately great  and  the  subsequent  wind  has  only  a 
moderate  clearing  quality  look  out  for  another 
cyclone. 

In  such  a  case  the  temperature  is  the  best 
witness  of  the  contemplated  change.  For  in- 
stance, after  a  summer  thunderstorm  a  decided 
coolness  is  de  rtgeur.  If  this  does  not  occur 
it  means  nearly  every  time  that  there  is  another 
thunderstorm  in  process  of  construction. 
There  may  be  not  a  cloud  in  the  sky,  there  may 
be  no  wind  (although  there  should  be)  so  that 
the  course  of  the  thermometer  is  the  only  means 
of  telling  what  is  to  be  the  next  event.  Any- 
body can  take  a  thermometer  with  him  although 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     93 

a  barometer  —  the  most  accurate  forecaster  of 
all  —  may  be  thought  too  much  expense  and 
bother. 

At  some  future  date  the  Weather  Bureau  will 
be  able  to  predict  the  temperature  of  seasons 
in  advance.  This,  together  with  the  amount  of 
rain  scheduled  to  fall,  will  be  an  invaluable  aid 
to  everybody  and  to  the  farmers  most  of  all. 
At  present  mild  seasons  that  have  severe  storms 
without  the  appropriate  degree  of  cold  after 
them  cannot  be  entirely  explained,  let  alone  be- 
ing prediscovered.  They  all  hinge  upon  the 
more  or  less  permanent  areas  of  high  and  low 
air  pressure  over  the  oceans  and  international 
meteorological  service  has  not  progressed  far 
enough  to  support  many  ocean  stations  as  yet. 

Sometimes  clear  weather  may  intensify, 
growing  brighter,  stiller,  colder.  This  is  be- 
cause the  pressure  is  increasing.  Cold  seasons 
are  distinguished  usually  by  a  succession  of  anti- 
cyclones. There  is  no  way  of  telling  how  long 
a  certain  spell  of  cold  weather  is  to  last,  but  I 
have  noticed  that  the  same  characteristics  rarely 
predominate  for  longer  than  a  month  at  a  time. 
In  other  words,  if  December  has  been  warm 
and  rainy,  January  will  likely  be  cold  and  dry. 
Of  course,  that  is  precisely  the  unscientific  sort 
of  generalization  which  the  Bureau  very  rightly 


94     READING  THE  WEATHER 

frowns  upon,  but  which  one  may  nurse  privately 
until  science  has  provided  a  substitute  as  she 
already  has  in  so  many  instances. 

With  a  little  practice  it  is  an  easy  matter  to 
estimate  the  temperature  to  within  a  very  few 
degrees.  Try  guessing  for  a  few  mornings  and 
then  look  at  the  thermometer.  You  will  hit 
within  three  degrees  every  time  after  a  week  of 
this. 

Allowance  must  be  made  for  the  amount  of 
moisture  in  the  air  and  for  the  force  of  the 
wind.  Damp  air  feels  colder  by  several  de- 
grees than  crisp,  dry  air,  and  a  breeze  increases 
the  difference  still  more.  Air  in  motion  is  not 
necessarily  colder  than  calm  air.  As  a  matter 
of  fact  the  lowest  temperatures  of  all  are  re- 
corded about  sunrise  after  a  still,  clear  night. 
The  amount  of  radiation  accomplished  during 
the  last  hours  of  the  night  is  amazing,  and  the 
downward  impetus  of  the  thermometer  is  often 
carried  on  for  an  hour  or  more  after  the  sun 
has  appeared  above  the  horizon.  A  self-re- 
cording thermometer  is  an  amusing  toy  which 
will  show  this  and  becomes  a  valuable  instrument 
if  one  raises  fruit. 

In  winter  three  o'clock  of  an  afternoon  sees 
the  highest  temperature  usually,  and  in  summer 
this  maximum  occurs  as  late  as  half-past  five, 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     95 

due  to  the  fact  that  the  sun  can  pour  in  its  heat 
faster  than  the  earth  can  radiate  it  off.  For 
the  half  hour  before  and  after  sunset,  particu- 
larly in  winter,  the  loss  of  heat  is  relatively 
greatest;  then  the  pace  slackens  till  three  or 
four  in  the  morning,  when  the  plunge  of  the 
mercury  is  accelerated  until  the  rays  of  the  rising 
sun  counteract  the  radiation. 

If  the  mercury  does  not  rise  appreciably  on 
a  clear  winter's  day  it  is  a  sign  that  a  cold  wave 
is  stealing  in,  due,  doubtless,  to  a  gradual  in- 
crease in  pressure  without  its  customary  bluster. 
Very  often  snow  flurries  predict  its  approach, 
but  this  may  be  so  gradual  that  only  the  restric- 
tion of  the  daily  thermal  rise  may  indicate  it. 
By  the  next  morning  the  temperature  will  likely 
be  twenty  degrees  colder. 

If  the  mercury  does  not  fall  on  a  clear  winter's 
night  it  is  a  sign  that  a  layer  of  moist  air  not  far 
above  the  surface  of  the  earth  is  checking  the 
normal  night  radiation.  Unsettled  weather  is 
almost  sure  to  follow  unless  this  wet  blanket  is 
itself  dissipated  and  the  mercury  takes  its  cus- 
tomary tumble  before  morning. 

If  the  temperature  falls  while  the  sky  is  still 
covered  with  clouds  clearing,  possibly  after  a 
little  precipitation,  will  soon  follow. 

Hot  waves   approach  insidiously.     A  night 


96     READING  THE  WEATHER 

will  not  cool  off  as  it  properly  should,  the  sun 
will  rise  coppery,  and  while  the  day  is  yet  young 
everybody  begins  to  realize  that  all  is  not  ex- 
actly right.  But  the  heat  increases  usually  for 
several  days,  not  only  by  reason  of  steadily 
lowering  pressure,  but  also  by  accumulation. 
Finally  when  a  climax  is  reached  it  departs 
abruptly  on  the  toe  of  a  thunderstorm. 

A  cold  wave  reverses  the  process.  It  arrives 
abruptly  on  the  heels  of  a  departing  cyclone 
and,  after  losing  power,  steals  away  without  any 
commotion  whatever.  Its  rate  of  progress  is  in 
close  relation  to  the  cyclone  ahead  of  it. 

Our  mountains  play  a  great  part  in  our 
weather.  They  are  a  right  arm  of  Providence 
to  our  agricultural  communities.  Due  to  their 
north  and  south  trend  a  cold  wave  of  any  se- 
verity reaches  the  Pacific  Coast  only  once  a 
generation.  Just  once  has  snow  been  observed 
to  fall  at  San  Diego  and  it  is  so  rare  south  of 
San  Francisco  that  many  people  never  have  seen 
a  flake.  East  of  the  mountains  the  belt  of  des- 
ert makes  natural  crops  impossible  for  a  thou- 
sand miles,  but  if  they  crossed  the  continent  all 
the  territory  north  of  them  would  have  such  a 
cold  climate  that  none  of  the  present  enormous 
crops  of  Canada  and  our  northern  states  could 
possibly  be  grown.  It  is  also  due  to  the  wide 


sis2! 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     97 

insweep  of  winds  from  the  Gulf  that  the  plains 
states  are  so  well  watered. 

In  lesser  fashion  the  Appalachians  protect 
the  Atlantic  seaboard.  They  withstand  the  im- 
pact of  the  cold  waves  to  a  great  extent,  al- 
though they  are  not  high  enough  to  divert  the 
flow  of  cold  air  entirely  toward  the  south  and  it 
is  not  desirable  that  they  should.  As  things  are 
the  cold  strikes  Alabama  before  it  hits  New  Jer- 
sey, and  is  often  more  severe  there. 

Comparative  cold  is  often  registered  by  the 
green  color  of  the  sky.  A  fiery  red  continues 
the  prevailing  heat. 

The  day  that  is  ushered  in  by  a  fog,  in  sum- 
mer, will  likely  be  warm,  providing  the  fog  lifts 
by  ten  o'clock. 

The  temperature  of  a  night  with  even  a  thin 
covering  of  clouds  will  be  a  good  deal  higher 
than  if  the  sky  is  clear.  In  the  British  Isles  the 
whole  difference  between  freezing  and  no  freez- 
ing lies  .with  the  fairness  of  the  heavens. 
Everywhere  frost  will  not  form  while  the  sky  is 
covered,  although  the  temperature  may  be  be- 
low the  freezing  point.  In  summer  radiation 
on  a  still  clear  night  may  be  so  rapid  that  frost 
may  follow  a  temperature  of  fifty  degrees  at 
nightfall. 

The  temperature  at  the  surface  of  the  earth 


98     READING  THE  WEATHER 

may  easily  deceive,  as  a  colder  or  warmer  stra- 
tum of  air  may  overlie  that  immediately  next  to 
the  ground.  I  have  seen  water  particles  fall 
when  the  temperature  was  as  low  as  16  degrees 
above  zero,  showing  that  the  stratum  of  cold  air 
was  very  thin.  Our  sleet  storms  in  which  im- 
mense damage  is  done  to  trees  and  telegraph 
wires  occurs  from  just  such  a  situation, —  a  cold, 
shallow  layer  of  air  close  to  the  earth,  with  the 
warm  moisture-bearing  air  flowing  over  it.  The 
reverse  of  this  situation  is  not  uncommon  —  the 
sight  of  a  snowstorm  proceeding  merrily  along 
with  the  ground  temperature  at  35  or  even  40 
degrees. 

Coming  warmth  may  be  noticed  by  the  in- 
crease in  size  of  snow  flakes,  with  finally  hail 
and  rain.  Coming  cold  is  foreshadowed  by 
hail  mixed  with  the  rain  and  lastly  snow  flakes 
which  have  a  tendency  to  decrease  in  size. 
Colors  of  the  clouds  predict  temperature 
changes,  but  it  takes  much  practice  to  distinguish 
the  cold,  hard  grays  from  the  soft,  warm  ones. 
A  warm  sky  is  always  less  uniform  in  color  than 
a  cold  one.  The  colors  of  winter  sunsets  are, 
as  a  rule,  much  brighter  than  those  of  summer 
skies. 

The  stars  seem  brighter  on  a  night  that  is  to 
be  cold.  If  they  twinkle  it  is  because  of  rushing 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     99 

air  currents,  and  if  the  wind  is  from  the  north- 
west the  result  may  be  a  subsequent  lowering  of 
temperatures. 

The  whole  question  of  whether  it  will  be 
colder  and  how  much  is  vital  to  the  camper  and 
if  the  signs  of  change  are  taken  along  with  the 
look  of  the  clouds  and  the  direction  of  the  wind 
he  need  never  be  wrong  as  to  the  direction  the 
mercury  is  going,  and  will  soon  be  able  to  guess 
the  distance  pretty  fairly. 

RAIN  AND  SNOW 

East  of  the  Mississippi  River  rain  falls  with 
the  utmost  impartiality  upon  every  locality. 
Thirty  to  fifty  inches  are  delivered  at  intervals 
of  three  or  four  days  throughout  the  year. 
And  if  there  is  a  slight  irregularity  in  delivery 
one  can  be  sure  that  from  125  to  150  of  the  365 
days  will  be  rainy.  Occasionally  there  is  a 
more  or  less  serious  hold  up  of  supplies,  but  this 
rarely  happens  in  the  spring  of  the  year  and 
never  happens  to  all  sections  at  once.  And  if 
there  is  a  desire  to  make  amends  for  the 
drought,  we  have  what  we  call  a  flood  and  blame 
it  on  the  weather  instead  of  on  pur  precipitous 
denudation  of  the  watersheds. 

West  of  the  Mississippi  particular  people 
have  to  go  to  particular  places  for  their  rain. 


100     READING  THE  WEATHER 

If  they  like  a  lot  of  it  they  must  go  to  the  coast 
districts  of  Washington  or  Oregon  where  they 
can  have  it  almost  every  day.  It  rains  a  good 
deal  at  Eastport,  Maine, —  about  45  inches  a 
year ;  that  is,  nearly  an  inch  a  week, —  but  at 
Neal  Bay,  Washington,  at  about  the  same  lati- 
tude, in  one  year  it  rained  140  inches,  and  it 
never  stops  short  of  100  inches  any  year. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  the  Washington  people 
are  tired  of  it  they  need  only  escape  to  Arizona 
where  it  rains  about  two  inches  a  year,  and  they 
can  live  in  an  enterprising  hotel  down  there 
whose  manager  believes  that  it  pays  to  advertise 
the  sun.  He  guarantees  to  provide  free  board 
on  every  day  that  the  sun  doesn't  shine. 

In  the  plateau  section  enough  snow  falls  every 
year  to  store  up  enough  water  for  irrigation 
purposes,  and  the  little  rain  that  falls  arrives  in 
just  the  right  season  to  do  the  most  good,  the 
spring.  In  California  what  the  farmers  lose  in 
amount  they  make  up  in  the  regularity  of  its  ar- 
rival. 

North  of  the  Ohio  River  most  of  the  precipi- 
tation from  November  to  April  is  snow. 
About  50  inches  of  it  falls  on  the  average  over 
this  tremendous  territory.  And  it  is  more  use- 
ful than  rain, —  the  handy  blanket  that  makes 
lumber-hauling  easy,  that  keeps  the  ground 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  f  CAMBERS    .101 

from  freezing  to  Arctic  depths,  that  fertilizes 
the  soil,  and  that  acts  as  a  great  reservoir,  hold- 
ing over  the  meat  and  drink  of  the  vegetable 
kingdom  till  the  thirsty  time  arrives.  In  upper 
Michigan  and  Maine  the  average  depth  be- 
comes 100  inches.  Averages  are  very  mislead- 
ing when  snowfall  is  being  considered,  some 
winters  producing  very  scanty  amounts  and  oth- 
ers heaping  it  on  to  the  depth  of  185  inches 
once  at  North  Volney,  New  York. 

South  of  the  Ohio  the  depth  varies  from  sub- 
stantial amounts  in  some  winters  to  almost 
nothing  in  others.  Snow  has  been  observed, 
however,  in  every  part  of  our  country  except  the 
extreme  southern  tip  of  Florida.  Once  and 
only  once  on  the  records  a  great  three-day  snow- 
storm visited  all  of  southern  California,  extend- 
ing to  the  Mexican  border  and  to  the  coast. 

The  strip  of  country  between  the  parallels  of 
New  York  City  and  Richmond  comprises  the 
section  wherein  each  winter  storm  is  one  large 
guess  as  to  whether  the  precipitation  is  to  be 
snow  or  rain.  A  compromise  is  usually  affected 
in  this  way.  Before  the  clouding  up  began  the 
mercury  may  have  stood  at  ten  degrees  below 
zero.  As  soon  as  the  wind  acquired  an  easterly 
slant  the  temperature  increased.  As  it  neared 
the  freezing  point  the  snow  would  begin,  first  in 


102     READING  THE  WEATHER 

flakes  of  medium  size  which  would  enlarge  until 
after  a  particularly  heavy  fall  of  a  few  minutes 
they  would  at  once  almost  cease.  Hail  soon 
would  succeed,  the  mercury  still  rising,  and 
often  the  hail  would  have  turned  to  rain  before 
the  freezing  point  of  the  air  of  the  immediate 
surface  of  the  earth  had  been  reached,  turning 
the  snow  already  on  the  ground  to  slush  and 
making  a  holiday  for  germs. 

One  can  always  tell  when  this  change  to 
warmer  is  about  to  occur  because  the  clouds 
which  have  been  part  and  parcel  with  the  ob- 
scuring snow  suddenly  show,  not  lighter  but 
darker.  The  sudden  increase  in  size  of  the 
flakes  is  another  infallible  symptom  of  increas- 
ing warmth  in  the  atmosphere  for  each  large 
flake  is  a  compound  of  many  smaller  ones. 
When  the  temperature  is  low  the  flakes  are  very 
small,  being  grains  and  spicules  in  the  severe 
blizzards  of  the  west  and  falling  as  snow-dust 
in  the  Arctic.  In  the  heavy  storms  of  the  guess- 
ing-belt  the  flakes  are  not  necessarily  small. 

I  have  noticed  (in  the  latitude  of  Philadel- 
phia) that  our  largest  storms  begin  very  lei- 
surely indeed  with  small  and  regular-sized  flakes. 
A  quarter  of  an  inch  may  not  fall  in  the  first 
hour.  As  the  center  nears  the  snow  comes  ever 
faster  and  larger,  but  not  large,  flakes  are  mixed 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     103 

with  the  original-sized  flakes.  Snow  dust  is  ap- 
parent. At  the  height  of  the  storm  flakes  of  all 
sizes  except  the  very  large  are  falling,  denot- 
ing great  activity  in  the  strata  of  air  within  the 
storm  influence.  In  the  ordinary  storm  an  ac- 
cumulation at  the  rate  of  an  inch  an  hour  de- 
notes a  storm  of  considerable  intensity. 

The  snow  will  likely  keep  on  falling  as  long 
as  the  flakes  are  irregular  in  size.  If  they  grow 
large  and  few  or  very  small  a  cessation  is  likely, 
even  though  the  wind  is  still  blowing  from  an 
easterly  quarter.  The  amount  of  snow  likely 
to  fall  can  be  gauged  not  only  by  the  process  of 
flake-change  but  by  the  rate  at  which  the  wind 
rises.  A  storm's  intensity  is  measured  by  the 
amount  of  wind.  A  storm  can  be  a  storm  with- 
out a  drop  of  rain  or  flake  of  snow  if  only  there 
be  enough  wind.  And  as  long  as  the  wind  in  a 
snowstorm  keeps  rising  the  storm  is  likely  to  go 
on,  probably  increasing  in  volume  of  precipita- 
tion. 

If  the  wind  shows  a  tendency  to  edge  around 
to  the  southeast  there  is  danger  of  the  snow 
turning  to  rain;  if  the  wind  veers  slowly  to  the 
northeast  the  temperature  will  fall  slowly  and 
the  rate  of  precipitation  will  likely  increase  for 
a  while.  In  such  instances  the  snow  does  not 
continue  to  fall  after  the  wind  has  swung  west 


104     READING  THE  WEATHER 

of  north.  Often  clearing  takes  place  with  the 
wind  still  in  the  north  or  even  a  point  east  of 
north. 

Contrary  to  superstition  snow  may  begin  to 
fall  at  any  hour  of  the  day  or  night.  But  cer- 
tain hours  seem  more  propitious  than  others, 
owing  no  doubt  to  the  tendency  of  cooling  air  to 
condense.  Three  o'clock  of  an  afternoon  and 
eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  are  favorite  times, 
the  one  being  the  hour  of  a  winter  afternoon 
when  cooling  is  begun,  the  other  the  hour  when 
the  coldest  time  is  reached  and  condensation 
likely  if  at  all.  Of  course,  one  remembers 
storms  beginning  at  nine,  ten,  eleven,  and  every 
other  hour. 

Storms  that  begin  in  the  morning  seldom 
reach  much  activity  before  three  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon,  while  those  that  begin  then  quickly 
increase  in  intensity  as  evening  draws  near  and 
the  sun's  warmth  is  withdrawn  from  the  upper 
air-strata.  More  snow  falls  at  night  than  in 
the  daytime,  also.  Snow  is  more  delicate  than 
rain  and  perhaps  more  responsive  than  rain  to 
the  subtle  changes  of  the  atmosphere.  Possibly 
there  is  no  ground  on  the  Bureau  records  for 
these  ideas,  possibly  storms  have  a  tendency  to 
start  from  the  Gulf  on  their  northeastward  jour- 
ney and  so  reach  Philadelphia  oftener  at  one 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     105 

time  than  another.  I  would  like  my  notions 
confirmed  that  snowstorms  increase  at  nightfall, 
and  that  they  prefer  to  start  operations  at  sun- 
rise and  about  sunset. 

For  the  camper  the  snowstorm  need  have  no 
terrors.  It  gives  a  long  warning  of  its  ap- 
proach. It  comes  mostly  without  destructive 
winds.  Its  upholstery  protects  and  warms  the 
walls  of  one's  tent.  It  adds  beauty  to  the  leaf- 
less woods,  interest  to  the  trailer,  and  a  hundred 
amusements  among  the  hills. 

But  the  value  of  snowy  weather  is  not  only 
measured  by  its  beauties  and  commercial  uses. 
There  is  another  way:  make  it  read  character 
for  you.  Watch  the  reactions  toward  the  first 
snowfall  of  half  a  dozen  kinds  of  people.  It 
will  show  you  what  they  are;  give  you  a  very 
fair  measure  of  their  youth. 

Our  atmosphere  contains  a  lot  of  moisture 
that  never  gets  precipitated.  You  can  prove 
this  on  any  warm  day  by  noticing  the  way  the 
atmosphere  acts  toward  a  glass  of  ice-water. 
When  the  air  of  the  room  is  much  warmer  than 
the  surface  of  the  glass  it  surrenders  its  mois- 
ture willy  nilly.  Sometimes  this  condensation  is 
enough  to  cause  a  miniature  rainstorm  that  tric- 
kles down  the  outside  of  the  tumbler.  If  a 
small  cold  surface  can  wring  so  much  water  out 


106     READING  THE  WEATHER 

of  a  little  air  it  is  small  wonder  that  we  get  an 
inch  or  so  of  rain  from  vast  currents  of  air  at 
unequal  temperatures. 

Try  to  visualize  the  process.  A  stream  of 
vapor  has  been  warmed  and  is  ascending.  A 
mile  up  and  it  has  cooled  not  only  by  the  reason 
of  altitude  but  also  by  the  process  itself.  About 
each  little  dust-particle  in  the  surrounding  area 
vapor  forms  —  vapor  cannot  form  without 
something  to  form  on,  there  being  always 
enough  dust  from  deserts  and  volcanoes  to  go 
round.  If  the  cooling  proceeds  the  tiny  glob- 
ules enlarge  and  as  they  increase  in  weight  they 
settle  and  fall.  Falling,  they  unite  with  others. 

If  the  air-strata  are  very  warm  and  thick  the 
drops  may  grow  to  a  very  considerable  size. 
We  see  these  in  the  middle  of  our  great  winter 
rains  when  the  insweep  of  southern  winds  with 
all  their  warmth  and  moisture  is  very  extensive. 
Also  the  first  few  drops  that  come  from  the 
thick,  hot  lips  of  the  thundercloud  are  usually 
immense. 

The  best  way  to  measure  the  size  of  a  rain- 
drop is  to  have  it  fall  in  a  box  of  dry  sand.  It 
rolls  up  the  sand  and  measurements  can  be  eas- 
ily and  accurately  made.  But  the  most  inter- 
esting way  is  to  let  the  first  drops  of  the  thun- 
derstorm fall  upon  a  sheet  of  blotting  paper. 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     107 

If  the  same  sort  of  blotting  paper  is  used  the 
measurements  will  be  of  just  as  much  impor- 
tance for  comparison.  Circles  as  big  as  tea- 
cups are  formed  sometimes. 

Heavy  drops  in  winter  mean  a  heavy  fall,  be- 
cause they  denote  high  temperatures  which  are 
uncommon  and  are  bound  to  be  followed  by 
considerable  condensation  as  the  cooling  pro- 
ceeds back  to  normal  temperatures.  Small 
drops  in  summer  mean  either  cooler  weather,  or 
sudden  condensation.  Small  drops  in  winter 
are  a  sign  of  very  thin  moisture-bearing  strata, 
or  low  temperatures,  indicating  that  the  rain  will 
be  light,  protracted,  and  liable  to  change  to 
snow. 

Hail  is  frozen  rain.  Winter  hail  is  small 
and  harmless  and  rarely  falls  to  any  depth  be- 
cause the  exact  temperatures  that  bring  forth 
the  hail  rarely  continue  for  very  long  at  a  time. 
Hail  in  winter  is  merely  the  stepping  stone  to 
either  rain  or  snow.  But  in  summer  hail  is  a 
serious  matter.  It  shows  that  there  is  a  violent 
disturbance  of  the  atmosphere  in  progress. 
Vertical  air  currents,  probably  abetted  by  elec- 
tricity,—  the  authorities  are  not  sure  —  often 
carry  the  stones  up  several  times.  They  take 
on  layer  after  layer,  coalesce,  and  sometimes 
fall  the  size  of  eggs,  apples,  or  any  other  fruit, 


108     READING  THE  WEATHER 

barring  melons.  The  usual  summer  hail  does 
not  exceed  the  size  of  a  robin's  egg.  Even  a 
projectile  of  that  size,  however,  falling  for  a 
half  mile  or  more  has  a  tremendous  destructive 
power.  Greenhouses  suffer,  birds  are  killed, 
cattle  stunned,  and  loss  of  life  has  been  known 
to  follow.  In  August  in  1851  in  New  Hamp- 
shire hailstones  fell  to  the  weight  of  18  ounces, 
diameter  4  inches,  circumference  12  inches.  In 
Pittsburgh  stones  weighing  a  full  pound  have 
crashed  down,  and  in  Europe  where  many  de- 
structive storms  have  occurred  there  are  official 
records  of  even  greater  phenomena.  The  light- 
ning accompanying  these  hailstones  is  usually 
very  severe.  A  flake  or  ball  of  snow  forms  the 
nucleus  of  a  hailstone. 

If  a  thundercloud  looks  particularly  black  or 
if  it  can  be  seen  in  commotion  think  of  hail  and 
seek  shelter.  It  is  pretty  difficult  to  predict  ex- 
actly when  hail  is  going  to  fall  in  summer.  It 
is  a  possibility  with  every  large  storm,  but  a 
probability  with  only  a  very  few  during  the  sum- 
mer. It  accompanies  tornadoes. 

In  winter  hail  falls  before  a  rainstorm,  even 
when  the  ground  temperature  precludes  the  pos- 
sibility of  snow;  some  lingering  stratum  of  cold 
air  has  ensnared  the  drops  on  their  way  down. 

Snow  is  not  frozen  rain.     It  has  an  origin  of 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     109 

its  own.  It  is  born  in  a  temperature  consist- 
ently below  freezing  and  on  the  condensation 
of  the  invisible  moisture  becomes  visible  as  a 
tiny  crystal.  These  infinitesimal  crystals  unite 
and  form  larger,  hexagonal  shapes,  elongated  or 
starry.  They  are  wafted  along,  sinking,  all 
slightly  differing  one  from  another,  although 
forming  a  few  types.  These  types  have  been 
photographed  and  catalogued  and  very  often 
the  altitude  from  which  the  snow  is  coming  may 
be  learned  from  their  shape  and  design.  But 
this  branch  of  science  is  young  yet  and  confus- 
ing and  the  outdoor  man  has  surer  signs  of  the 
vicissitudes  of  the  storm,  in  the  general  size  of 
the  flakes,  the  power  and  direction  of  the  wind, 
the  clouds  and  temperature.  The  possibilities 
of  flake-study  as  a  means  of  forecasting  are 
many  and  of  value  as  is  anything  that  tends  to 
unveil  the  secrets  of  the  greater  heights. 

Snowflakes  are  so  light  that  after  the  storm 
processes  are  over  and  the  sun  has  come  out  the 
residue  may  still  float  lazily  to  the  ground. 

The  wild  disorder  of  the  snow  flurry  will  only 
last  a  few  minutes  and  never  leave  much  snow 
on  the  ground. 

Snowstorms  that  come  on  the  wings  of  the 
west  wind  may  be  severe,  but  they  will  be  short. 
They  are  unusual  in  the  east,  but  sometimes  the 


110     READING  THE  WEATHER 

heaviest  snows  of  the  western  states  come  on  the 
sudden  cooling  that  follows  the  shift  to  west. 

Snowstorms  arriving  on  a  high  wind  last  only 
a  few  hours. 

Snowstorms  that  are  long  in  gathering  and  in- 
crease to  considerable  intensity  continue  a  long 
while. 

Those  that  follow  a  sudden  clouding  up  are 
of  no  importance. 

The  snowstorms  that  leave  on  a  high  wind 
from  the  west  or  northwest  are  followed  by  a 
cold  wave.  Those  that  continue  after  the 
storm  wind  has  died  away  are  succeeded  by  calm, 
clear,  and  usually  warmer  weather. 

In  northern  districts  a  snowstorm  may  be 
looked  for  after  a  period  of  cold  weather.  In 
middle  districts  if  the  cold  has  been  severe  the 
reaction  to  warmer  may  bring  rain  instead.  In 
such  cases  generalities  are  of  no  use,  and  the 
possibilities  must  be  determined  by  the  man  on 
the  spot.  The  best  conditions  for  snow  through 
the  middle  districts  are  occasioned  by  an  area  of 
low-pressure  with  its  attendant  precipitation 
crossing  the  southern  half  of  the  country  while 
the  northern  half  is  under  the  influence  of  an 
area  of  high-pressure  with  its  attendant  frigid- 
ity. The  cold  air  flows  into  the  southern  storm 
with  the  result  that  the  middle  districts  get  the 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     ill 

northern  quadrants  of  the  storm  which  are  the 
usual  snow-bearing  ones  instead  of  the  southern 
rain-bearing  quadrants  that  they  would  have  got 
if  the  center  of  the  storm  had  pursued  its  usual 
course  up  the  Ohio  and  down  the  St.  Lawrence. 

If  the  storm  has  two  centers,  one  over  Texas 
and  the  other  over  Montana,  as  is  so  frequently 
the  case  in  winter,  the  subsequent  high  pressure 
will  come  too  late  to  affect  the  temperature  of 
the  zone  of  precipitation  and  the  latter  will 
likely  be  rain  in  the  middle  districts.  Some- 
times the  cyclones  cross  the  country  on  the  Ca- 
nadian border  and  enough  warm  air  is  sucked 
over  the  line  to  give  the  inhabitants  of  Montreal 
a  thaw  and  rain.  This  happens  to  them  only 
once  or  twice  a  winter.  And  even  more  rarely 
a  cyclone  over  the  Gulf  with  an  anticyclone 
above  it  will  give  the  Gulf  States  a  taste  of  win- 
ter, but  rarely  more  than  a  few  flakes. 

It  really  all  depends  on  the  influx  of  air,  its 
rate  and  direction.  It  rains  in  Alaska  and 
snows  in  Georgia  on  the  same  day  merely  be- 
cause at  one  place  the  air  is  coming  off  the  Pa- 
cific, and  at  the  other  it  is  flowing  from  the  cen- 
ter of  a  refrigerated  continent. 

And  the  progress  of  these  storms  is  one  of 
Nature's  greatest  poems  if  you  take  a  minute  to 
think  of  them  sweeping  on  in  majesty,  the  one 


READING  THE  WEATHER 

thing  that  man  cannot  control.  Even  the  snow 
which  is  the  citizens'  curse  as  well  as  the  farm- 
ers' blessing  becomes  epic  when  it  beleaguers  an 
empire  for  half  a  year. 

DEW  AND  FROST 

The  very  process  that  made  the  tumbler  of 
ice-water  sweat  on  the  hot  day  causes  dew. 
And  the  formation  of  frost  is  analogous  to  that 
of  snow.  Frost  is  not  frozen  dew,  but  the  for- 
mation of  moisture  crystals  at  the  temperature 
of  32°  or  below.  Frost  or  dew  form  only  on 
still,  cloudless  nights.  Even  if  no  clouds  are 
visible,  neither  will  form  if  a  stratum  of  humid 
air  has  prevented  radiation.  Hence  either  dew 
or  frost  is  a  fairly  good  sign  of  clear  weather. 

Three  white  frosts  on  successive  mornings  are 
followed  by  a  rain.  This  saying  holds  water 
not  because  there  is  any  virtue  in  frost  to  cause 
rain,  but  because  a  storm  is  normally  due  once  a 
week.  The  frosts  did  not  form  when  the  anti- 
cyclonic  winds  were  blowing  and  usually  not 
more  than  three  mornings  elapse  between  the 
time  that  the  anticyclone  has  lost  its  influence 
and  the  time  for  the  next  cyclone  to  appear. 
Frost  indicates  a  considerable  amount  of  mois- 
ture in  the  atmosphere,  also,  which  tends  to  in- 
crease as  the  cyclone  approaches. 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     113 

The  heaviest  dews  come  in  late  summer  and 
the  heaviest  frosts  in  mid-autumn  because  the 
change  in  temperature  is  greatest  then  and  there 
is  a  greater  chance  that  there  will  be  a  calm  at 
sunrise.  The  greatest  frost  damage  occurs  in 
the  spring  because  the  tenderer  crops  are  grow- 
ing then.  Summer  frosts  used  to  occur  in  the 
northern  parts  of  Minnesota  and  along  the 
southern  boundaries  of  the  inland  Canadian 
provinces  before  the  forests  were  cleared  off. 
The  march  of  civilization  has  actually  pushed 
back  the  frost  line  some  distance. 

Frost  may  occur  when  the  amount  of  humid- 
ity in  the  air  is  low  and  the  barometer  rising  at 
any  temperature  under  50  degrees  at  nightfall, 
the  clear  skies  permitting  radiation  enough  un- 
der those  circumstances  to  produce  the  necessary 
cooling.  An  evening  temperature  of  40  de- 
grees with  the  clear  skies  and  faint  west  breeze 
will  almost  surely  produce  a  frost,  provided  the 
wind  drops.  In  such  circumstances  the  only 
hope  for  the  farmer  is  that  there  is  enough  hu- 
midity in  the  air  to  cause  a  fog  before  the  frost- 
point  is  reached.  A  temperature  touching  34 
degrees  would  not  bring  frost,  however,  if  the 
sky  was  at  all  overcast.  Frost  is  difficult  to  pre- 
dict because  a  night  shift  in  the  wind,  cloudiness 
that  forms  after  midnight,  or  even  a  wind  aris- 


114i     READING  THE  WEATHER 

ing  before  the  coolest  period  at  dawn  will  pre- 
vent its  formation.  On  the  other  hand,  clouds 
may  disperse,  the  wind  may  fall  or  radiation 
may  be  so  rapid  before  sunrise  as  to  cause  a 
killing  frost  unawares.  The  farmer  who  lives 
in  areas  disputed  by  winter  and  spring  may 
never  be  quite  sure,  but  precautions  should  be 
taken  on  the  still,  clear,  dry  nights  with  the  ther- 
mometer at  fifty  or  below. 

Fruit-growers  resort  to  fires  or  to  coverings 
to  protect  their  crops.  The  fires  are  particu- 
larly worth  while,  not  so  much  for  their  heat 
which  at  best  cannot  be  expected  to  warm  up  the 
great  outdoors  much,  but  for  the  smoke  which 
prevents  radiation.  A  line  of  smudges  such  as 
campers  use  to  ward  off  the  mosquito  would 
spread  a  pall  of  smoke  over  an  orchard  effica- 
ciously. A  snowstorm,  the  soft  fluffy  sort  that 
falls  in  April  or  May,  can  do  much  less  damage 
to  vegetation  than  a  severe  frost. 

Temperatures  are  much  lower  on  the  ground 
than  even  six  feet  above  the  grass.  Naturally 
these  temperatures  are  those  that  really  influ- 
ence most  vegetation  and  in  England  tempera- 
tures on  the  grass  are  given  in  the  weather  re- 
port with  the  ordinary  observations,  being  as 
much  as  six  or  eight  degrees  lower  on  clear 
nights, 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     115 

In  some  of  the  hot,  dry  countries,  such  as  Ara- 
bia and  Egypt,  most  of  the  moisture  that  they 
receive  falls  in  the  form  of  dew.  Falls,  of 
course,  is  a  loose  expression  as  the  dew  forms 
and  does  not  fall,  being  different  from  the  mi- 
nute particles  of  fog.  The  fog  particles  in  sus- 
pension in  the  air  are  estimated  to  be  as  small 
as  i-i8oth  of  an  inch.  When  they  grow  to 
i-8oth  of  an  inch  in  diameter  they  commence  to 
fall.  Fogs  are  chiefly  caused  by  the  soil  being 
warmer  than  the  air  above  it;  the  vapor  on  ris- 
ing condenses  and  becomes  visible.  In  the 
spring  and  fall  currents  of  air  blow  over  rivers 
at  different  temperatures  and  the  result  is  a  fog. 
One  does  not  have  a  fog  in  the  desert. 

There  are  places  in  the  ocean  with  cold  and 
warm  currents  with  the  air  above  them  corre- 
spondingly different  where  fog  is  of  almost  con- 
stant occurrence.  The  Gulf  Stream  off  the 
Grand  Banks  of  Newfoundland  has  a  tempera- 
ture of  78  degrees,  while  the  water  on  the  Banks 
is  45  degrees  so  that  fogless  days  are  rare  along 
the  line  of  meeting. 

Frost  is  known  in  every  part  of  our  country, 
many  localities  in  the  plateau  section  being  ex- 
posed to  it  every  month  of  the  year.  The  thin 
air  and  cloudless  skies  of  the  altitudes  make  ra- 
diation very  easy  and  the  daily  variation  of  tern- 


116     READING  THE  WEATHER 

perature  is  much  wider  than  along  the  humid 
coasts.  Those  who  have  never  looked  into 
frost  conditions  throughout  our  country  will  be 
surprised  to  read  the  warnings  of  the  Weather 
Bureau. 

From  the  station  at  Pensacola,  Florida 
(frost-proof  Florida!),  comes  this  statement: 
1  Vegetables  are  subject  to  damage  by  frost  dur- 
ing all  seasons  of  the  year." 

Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  "  Frost  is  likely 
to  damage  fruit  or  other  crops  in  May  and  Sep- 
tember." 

Phoenix,  Arizona,  "  Frost  is  likely  to  do  dam- 
age in  December,  February,  and  March." 

Baker  City,  Oregon,  "  Fruit  and  other  crops 
are  most  liable  to  damage  by  frost  in  April, 
May,  June,  September,  and  October." 

Kalispell,  Montana,  "  Frost  damage  for 
fruit,  May  I5th  to  July  loth;  for  grain,  June 
25th  to  August  ist." 

Montgomery,  Alabama,  "  During  March, 
April,  and  May  fruit  and  early  vegetables  are 
subject  to  damage  by  frost." 

THE  THUNDERSTORM  EXPOSED 

Probably  nothing  in  the  world  causes  more 
terror  than  a  flash  of  lightning.  In  an  able- 


SKY  SIGNS  FOE  CAMPERS 

bodied  thunderstorm  playing  about  a  city  there 
are  several  dozen  flashes,  and  every  one  of  them 
brings  trepidation,  fright,  or  positive  terror  to 
thousands  of  human  beings, —  oftenest  women, 
sometimes  men,  and  occasionally  children.  Yet 
probably  there  is  no  alarm  in  the  world  so  ill- 
founded. 

Thunderstorms  play  pretty  generally  over 
our  three  million  square  miles  with  their  hun- 
dred million  population.  Yet  lightning  picks 
out  of  this  crowd  only  three  hundred  people  a 
year  who  are  foolish  enough  to  be  killed.  That 
is,  only  three  persons  in  each  million  to  be  sacri- 
ficed to  the  most  astounding  and  beautiful  dis- 
play in  the  world,  a  mere  handful  compared  to 
the  mounds  of  motor  car  victims  or  to  the  33,- 
068  deaths  a  year  attributable  to  railroads  and 
the  perils  of  track-walking. 

The  trouble  about  the  thunderstorm  is  that  it 
does  not  lull  one  into  the  sense  of  insecure  re- 
pose. It  is  too  obviously  after  one.  If  the 
thunder  were  toned  down  a  bit  and  the  lightning 
a  trifle  duller  the  alliance  might  claim  its  thou- 
sands, like  the  inconspicuous  housefly,  and  never 
meet  an  objection.  But  until  the  thunderstorm 
foregoes  its  bravado  it  will  continue  to  bully  the 
ladies  into  hysterics. 


118     READING  THE  WEATHER 

Of  course,  there  is  always  the  sporting  chance 
that  you  are  one  of  the  three  in  your  particular 
million  to  perish. 

But  you  can  lessen  the  chance.  You  must  not 
seek  refuge  under  a  tree.  You  should  not  take 
doubtful  shelter  in  a  barn.  And  you  had  best 
not  sit  in  a  draft  by  an  open  window  if  there  is 
a  tree  just  outside  it.  By  these  three  avenues 
most  of  the  thoughtless  three  hundred  (a  year) 
invite  their  end. 

Trees  that  are  tall  and  otherwise  exposed  are 
struck  oftenest.  The  electricity  in  the  cloud 
and  the  electricity  in  the  earth  are  always  en- 
deavoring to  combine.  When  this  tendency  be- 
comes so  strong  that  the  resistance  of  the  inter- 
vening air  is  counteracted  the  electric  discharge 
between  thundercloud  and  earth  takes  place. 
This  happens  most  frequently  from  some 
pointed  thing  as  a  steeple,  a  tree  if  they  are 
good  conductors.  Men  and  animals  are  some- 
times charged  with  the  electricity  opposite  to 
that  of  the  cloud.  When  the  lightning  is  dis- 
charged, even  at  a  distance,  the  bodies  revert 
rapidly  from  the  electric  to  the  natural  state. 
This  return  shock  or  concussion  occasionally 
proves  fatal. 

That  is  the  reason  that  trees  are  such  poor 
protectors  from  the  storm's  fury.  Better  a 


SKY  SIGNS  FOE  CAMPERS     119 

wet  skin  in  the  middle  of  a  field  than  precarious 
dryness  under  an  oak  or  cherry  or  tall  pine  or 
almost  any  other  tree.  If  it  should  hail  hard 
enough  to  stove  in  your  head  take  to  a  beech  or 
a  small  spruce. 

Barns  are  struck  so  often  because  the  body  of 
warm,  dry  air  in  them  favors  the  passage  of 
electricity.  Those  who  hide  in  barns  are  some- 
times cremated.  After  a  severe  thunderstorm 
in  the  Poconos  I  have  seen  as  many  as  three 
barns  on  fire  at  once. 

Open  windows,  porches,  and  exposure  gener- 
ally are  safe,  but  not  safest.  The  cellar,  that 
old  stamping  ground,  is  where  instinct  takes  a 
few.  Any  closed  room  on  the  side  of  a  house 
away  from  trees  is  good  enough.  But  the  risk 
of  annihilation  is  so  very  small  that  one  is  re- 
paid for  taking  it  by  the  spectacle.  A  great 
thunderstorm  surpasses  anything  in  nature  in  the 
matter  of  architecture,  coloring,  directness,  and 
surprise, —  which,  with  selection,  comprise  the 
essentials  of  art.  Imagine  the  crowds  that 
would  pay  to  wonder  at  the  sight  if  a  thunder- 
storm could  be  staged,  say,  at  the  Hippodrome  I 

Some  hot  morning,  if  you  have  time  to  watch, 
you  may  see  a  thunderstorm  born  in  the  moun- 
tains. The  warm,  moist  air  flows  up  the  moun- 
tainside and  the  essential  start  is  made.  Cool- 


120     READING  THE  WEATHER 

ing,  this  air  first  shows  as  a  fluffy  cloud  that 
soon  grows  harder  in  appearance  and  becomes 
tufted  at  the  top.  Its  little  belly  swells  and 
grows  blacker.  It  hovers  over  the  valley. 
Others  add  to  it.  Suddenly  a  sort  of  adoles- 
cent thunder  is  heard.  The  tension  has  become 
too  great.  A  definite  consolidation  is  visible,  a 
fringe  lowers,  and  a  few  drops  of  rain  may 
reach  you. 

The  incipient  storm  moves  off,  and  having 
started  a  whirl  within  itself,  increases,  like  a 
rumor,  as  it  goes.  Before  it  has  moved  beyond 
your  horizon  it  may  have  become  a  large  patch 
of  dark  blue  with  billowy  white  crests  on  the 
top,  and  underneath  hangs  a  curtain  of  rain. 
Chances  are  that  it  will  not  go  far  before  en- 
countering conditions  that  dispel  it,  but  it  may 
cover  half  a  dozen  counties  before  nightfall. 
As  a  rule  these  little  heat  thunderstorms  do  not 
amount  to  a  great  deal.  They  are  originated 
by  local  conditions  and  leave  things  pretty  much 
as  they  found  them. 

But  when  a  cyclone  is  passing  in  summer  a  se- 
ries of  thunderstorms  or  heavy  showers  with 
some  thunder  frequently  take  place  instead  of 
the  all  day  winter  rain.  These  thunderstorms 
mount  up  against  the  wind.  Their  clouds  are 
black.  The  word  black  is  an  indulgence  of  the 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     in 

human  weatherman  meaning,  of  course,  any 
dark  color, —  a  black  sky  would  terrify  the  most 
hardened  of  meteorologists. 

The  cyclone  winds  come  from  the  south  or 
southeast  just  as  they  do  in  winter,  but  this  quar- 
ter may  not  bring  the  heaviest  rainfall  in  sum- 
mer. There  may  be  showers  or  even  clear 
skies,  but  the  day  will  be  humid  and  hot.  A 
haze  of  cirro-stiatus  cloud  will  gradually  over- 
spread the  sky  from  the  west,  darkening  into  a 
blue  from  the  original  whitish  or  gray.  Light- 
ning does  not  appear  from  the  cirrus,  but  after 
the  sky  has  grown  pretty  dark  a  ridge  or  tum- 
bled cloud  will  be  seen  low  on  the  western  hori- 
zon. Meanwhile  the  wind  will  have  died  down. 

The  lightning,  at  first  only  a  faint  glimmer, 
will  have  become  more  frequent  and  noticeable. 
If  it  is  striking  at  a  distance  of  fifteen  miles  the 
thunder  will  not  be  heard.  As  soon  as  the 
storm  center,  where  the  heaviest  rain  and  the 
electrical  display  are  taking  place,  gets  within 
the  fifteen-mile  radius  thunder  will  be  heard  to 
growl,  and  the  tumbled  cumulus  clouds  which 
may  have  lain  along  the  horizon  for  hours  will 
begin  to  approach.  The  storm  will  be  upon 
you  in  ten  minutes  likely  after  the  arc  of  fore- 
boding blue  and  white  cottony  cloud  has  begun 
its  charge  across  the  sky.  Light  quickly  fades 


129     READING  THE  WEATHER 

from  the  heavens.  The  wind  drops  entirely. 
Streaks  of  lightning  burn  downward. 

Behind  the  arc  stretches  a  curtain  of  uniform 
blue  or  gray.  If  the  gray  is  lighter  in  places 
the  rainfall  will  not  be  heavy.  If  the  curtain  is 
a  uniform  blue  a  heavy  rain  is  sure.  If  the  bow 
of  clouds  can  be  seen  to  tumble  or  is  continuous 
and  approaches  fast  the  wind  is  certain  to  be  se- 
vere,—  may  be  from  30  to  60  miles  an  hour  for 
the  first  few  minutes.  Sometimes  a  cloud  of 
dust  advancing  before  it  demonstrates  its  force. 

This  moment  immediately  before  the  storm 
breaks  is  the  dramatic  moment  of  the  entire  cy- 
clone. As  in  a  tragedy,  the  interest  has  built 
up  to  this  supreme  occasion,  this  knife  thrust, 
from  which  interest  recedes  until  clear  skies 
show  that  the  play  is  over.  From  12  to  36 
hours  is  the  usual  time  required  in  winter.  In 
summer  the  cyclone  takes  even  longer  to  pass  a 
given  point,  but  the  period  of  rainfall,  in  which 
the  winter  storm's  amount  is  often  surpassed, 
may  not  last  fifteen  minutes.  First  the  blow, 
then  a  crash  of  thunder,  and  the  rain  in  big 
drops,  which  lessen  rapidly  in  size  as  the  whole 
world  seems  involved  in  the  vast  forces  of  the 
storm  center.  Most  of  the  precipitation  occurs 
in  the  first  fifteen  minutes,  sometimes  in  the  first 
five.  A  hearty  storm  will  deliver  an  inch  in 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     123 

short  order.  Although  the  rain  continues  often 
for  an  hour  and  sometimes  in  the  storms  that 
are  attached  to  a  well-defined  cyclonic  system 
there  will  be  two  or  three  robust  thunderstorms 
in  succession,  yet  the  first  downpour  is  usually 
the  torrential  one  and  the  others  die  away  until 
the  conditions  that  caused  the  outbreak  have 
passed  off.  With  the  severer  storms  hail  falls. 

The  general  condition  of  the  air  after  a  thun- 
derstorm is  cooler,  dryer,  and  more  invigorat- 
ing than  before.  Ozone  has  been  liberated, 
dust  has  been  washed  from  the  air  and  vegeta- 
tion. The  surest  sign  of  a  continuation  of  un- 
settled weather  is  the  failure  of  the  atmosphere 
to  cool  off.  If  the  air  remains  sultry  and  heavy 
and  depressing  another  shower  is  due.  In  such 
circumstances  the  wind  will  not  have  begun  to 
blow  with  any  great  promise  from  the  west. 

A  close,  sultry  morning  is  the  best  indication 
of  a  thunder-gust.  The  large  piles  of  cumulus 
clouds  are  called  thunderheads  for  the  very  rea- 
son that  they  almost  always  precede  a  thunder- 
storm. The  heaviest  electrical  disturbances 
have  cirrus  clouds  a  few  hours  in  advance  of 
them  very  much  as  their  winter  relatives.  A 
thunderstorm  that  does  not  cause  the  barometer 
to  fall  considerably  will  not  amount  to  a  great 
deal. 


READING  THE  WEATHER 

At  night  the  different  kinds  of  lightning  fur- 
nish a  running  commentary  to  the  storm.  On 
calm  evenings  the  sky  will  be  cloudless,  with  per- 
haps the  exception  of  a  low  rim  on  the  northern 
horizon.  Yet  flashes  of  lightning,  of  course 
without  thunder,  may  be  seen  illuminating  that 
entire  quadrant  of  the  sky.  This  is  called  heat 
lightning  and  is  popularly  supposed  to  be  the 
result  of  the  heat  only.  As  a  matter  of  fact  it  is 
caused  by  a  normal  thunderstorm  that  is  operat- 
ing below  the  horizon.  Reflections  from  this 
storm  are  shown  on  the  rim  of  clouds,  or  if  no 
clouds  are  visible,  on  the  bowl  of  the  sky.  If 
you  see  lightning  be  sure  that  there  is  a  storm 
somewhere. 

If  this  disembodied  sort  of  lightning  contin- 
ues to  flash  from  the  western  sky  it  is  quite  pos- 
sible that  the  storm  will  reach  you.  If  it  shows 
on  the  northwest  or  north  of  you  the  chances 
are  that  the  storm  will  be  carried  around.  If  the 
wind  is  from  the  southwest  and  the  lightning  ap- 
pears there  only  the  progress  of  the  clouds  will 
show  whether  the  storm  is  pursuing  the  nor- 
mal track  from  the  west  and  around  you  or 
whether  it  is  edging  up  toward  you.  One  can- 
not be  very  well  surprised  by  a  thunderstorm  of 
any  energy  in  camp  as  the  lightning  shows  as 
much  as  two  hours  before  the  storm  breaks  and 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     125 

the  thunder  gives  fifteen  minutes'  notice  on 
most  occasions. 

The  sort  of  lightning  that  spends  itself  illu- 
minating the  clouds  in  serpents  and  willowy 
branches  confines  itself  to  the  altitudes  and  is 
very  beautiful  and  harmless.  It  is  accompanied 
by  thunder  that  sounds  hollow,  that  rumbles 
over  the  sky,  and  usually  does  not  end  with  the 
crash  and  thud  of  the  more  vigorous  variety. 
Such  lightning  and  such  thunder  are  more  often 
connected  with  the  sort  of  storm  that  comes  up 
very  swiftly  on  a  western  wind.  It  gives 
shorter  warning  than  any  other  sort  of  thunder- 
storm and  is  not  connected  with  the  cyclonic 
area.  I  have  known  such  a  storm  to  manifest 
itself  low  in  the  west,  approach,  and  break 
within  twenty  minutes.  Much  wind  results  and 
not  much  rain,  although  the  temperature  falls. 
Lightning  with  storms  of  this  impromptu  kind 
rarely  does  any  damage. 

But  if  the  storm  rises  slowly  against  the  wind, 
requiring  an  hour  or  two  or  three  to  approach 
and  break,  the  lightning  will  grow  almost  con- 
tinuously, some  of  the  flashes  being  broad 
streamers  cleaving  the  western  sky.  It  is  this 
sort  of  lightning  that  does  the  damage.  The 
thunder,  instead  of  rolling  like  an  empty  barrel, 
hits  into  a  series  of  concussions.  If  the  light- 


126     READING  THE  WEATHER 

ning  strikes  an  object  nearby  the  crash  is  rather 
appalling.  There  are  several  freak  sorts  of 
lightning  such  as  the  ball  form,  which  are  rare. 

The  approach  of  the  center  of  disturbance 
may  be  gauged  by  the  length  of  time  that  elapses 
between  flash  and  crash.  In  reality  the  thunder 
occurs  immediately  after  the  discharge  of  elec- 
tricity, but  sound  travels  so  slowly,  compared  to 
light,  that  a  minute  may  intervene  between 
stroke  and  clap.  You  may  count  the  seconds,  no- 
ticing the  regular  decrease,  signifying  the  near- 
ing  of  the  crisis.  Soon  a  flash  in  front  and  a 
simultaneous  peal  will  show  you  that  you  are  in 
the  thick  of  things.  The  next  bolt  or  two  may 
hit  very  close  and  you  can  appreciate  what  it 
means  to  be  on  the  firing  line.  Then  the  next 
river  of  fire  with  its  detonation  streams  behind 
you  and  you  are  saved. 

In  a  severe  thunderstorm  there  are  several 
centers,  several  nuclei  that  shed  destruction  like 
great  batteries  and  their  progress  over  and  be- 
yond you  has  its  thrills.  You  may  find  the  exact 
number  of  feet  away  that  the  bolt  hit  by  multi- 
plying the  number  of  seconds  elapsing  between 
the  lightning  and  thunder  by  1 120.  But  an  eas- 
ier way  is  to  allow  a  mile  for  every  five  seconds 
on  the  watch.  One  or  two  seconds,  and  you  are 
pretty  near  the  center  of  the  fray. 


SKY  SIGNS  FOB  CAMPERS     127 

Lightning  compresses  the  air,  leaving  a  par- 
tial vacuum.  The  other  air  rushing  in  to  fill 
this  partial  vacuum  forms  the  wave  motion  that 
produces  the  noise.  That  is  the  whole  why  of 
thunder.  The  reason  thunder  rolls  is  that  the 
lightning  is  a  series  of  discharges  each  of  which 
gives  rise  to  a  particular  detonation.  If  light- 
ning were  but  one  discharge,  the  thunder  would 
be  but  one  stupefying  crash.  Reflections  from 
the  clouds  and  from  layers  of  air  of  different 
densities  and  from  the  ground  are  agencies  that 
prolong  the  sound. 

Our  atmosphere  is  never  lacking  in  electricity. 
This  electricity  is  always  positive  in  clear 
weather  and  sometimes  negative  in  cloudy. 
Science  concludes,  then,  that  negative  electricity 
invariably  indicates  rain,  hail,  or  snow  within  a 
radius  of  forty  miles. 

Moist  air  is  a  good  conductor.  Our  power- 
ful motors  can  now  produce  a  spark  of  electric- 
ity several  feet  long.  But  some  of  the  flashes 
that  shoot  across  the  sky  in  a  big  storm  extend 
over  five  miles.  The  duration  of  the  flash  va- 
ries from  i-3Ooth  of  a  second  to  a  second.  The 
reason  that  lightning  does  not  always  pass  im- 
perially along  a  straight  line  is  that  some  air, 
either  molster  or  warmer  than  the  air  around  it, 
offers  less  resistance.  The  lightning  takes  this 


128     READING  THE  WEATHER 

line  of  least  resistance  along  the  pathway  of 
warmer  or  less  dense  air. 

Altitudes  of  thunderclouds  vary.  They  may 
hover  above  the  earth  at  800  feet.  They  may 
be  a  mile  high.  They  have  been  observed  on 
peaks  of  mountains  three  miles  high.  Many 
other  electrical  phenomena  are  observed  in  the 
mountains.  The  study  of  these  will  undoubt- 
edly benefit  meteorology  and  perhaps  go  far  to 
explain  the  unsolved  problems  of  the  Service. 

One  kind  of  thunderstorm  that  is  rather  rare 
is  that  which  arrives  in  winter  with  the  passage 
of  an  energetic  cyclone.  Often  when  the  wind, 
having  been  in  the  southeast  for  most  of  the 
storm,  is  passing  around  and  reaches  the  south 
or  southwest  the  rainfall  culminates  in  a  deluge 
and  thunder  is  heard.  One  or  two  such  storms 
are  a  winter's  complement.  They  usually  ter- 
minate the  rainfall  for  that  particular  cyclone. 
I  have  never  heard  of  damage  caused  by  these 
winter  electrical  storms,  and  they  occur  only  in 
exceptionally  well-developed  areas  of  low  pres- 
sure. 

Lightning  has  many  times  been  observed 
during  heavy  snow  storms.  I  have  never  heard 
any  thunder  with  it.  The  discharge  must  have 
been  very  faint. 

The  fascination  that  a  thunderstorm  has  for 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     129 

many  people  is  explained  partially  by  the  fact 
that  one  sees  the  whole  process  from  beginning 
to  end.  The  officials  of  the  Weather  Bureau 
have  this  privilege  as  regards  cyclones.  It  is 
their  business  and  pleasure  to  watch  the  setting 
up  of  these  vast  storms,  to  follow  them  on  their 
journey.  It  is  small  wonder  then  that  they  find 
the  spectacle  fascinating. 

THE  TORNADO 

The  birds,  the  flowers,  and  the  tornadoes  are 
all  busiest  in  spring.  And  the  tornadoes  prob- 
ably make  the  largest  impression. 

A  tornado  is  merely  a  whirl  of  air,  caused,  as 
are  all  the  other  whirls,  by  a  striking  difference 
in  temperature  in  adjacent  areas.  A  tornado  is 
a  local  and  restricted  example  of  the  same  thing 
that  a  cyclone  is.  But  a  tornado  rarely  crosses 
more  than  a  single  state ;  a  cyclone  strides  conti- 
nents. A  tornado  lasts,  in  one  place,  about  a 
minute;  a  cyclone  affects  the  weather  for  three 
days.  A  tornado  never  survives  the  night;  a 
cyclone  plods  on  for  a  week.  And  yet  if  you 
are  betting  on  destruction  put  your  money  on  the 
tornado.  What  it  lacks  in  the  realms  of  space 
and  time  it  makes  up  in  intensity.  Its  sting  is 
fatal. 

Tornadoes  occur  chiefly  in  the  spring  because 


130     READING  THE  WEATHER 

the  temperature  changes  are  greatest  then  and  it 
is  from  these  that  the  tornado  sucks  its  nourish- 
ment. Over  the  plains,  for  example,  a  limited 
area  is  abnormally  heated  by  a  local  cause.  Ab- 
normal cold  comes  in  contact  with  the  abnormal 
heat.  The  great  difference  in  pressure  results 
in  a  spiral  as  it  did  in  the  cyclone,  only  in  a  very 
small  spiral,  and  once  begun  its  energy  is  self- 
aggravating.  The  whole  thing  moves  off  to- 
ward the  northeast  attended  by  the  black  cloud 
of  its  condensation.  From  the  black  cloud  a 
funnel  like  an  elephant's  trunk  sways  back  and 
forth,  now  touching  the  ground  and  now  escap- 
ing it.  The  black  cloud  has  been  in  the  south- 
west for  some  time  probably  before  it  has  com- 
menced to  move.  The  day  has  been  very  op- 
pressive. The  sun  rose  rather  coppery,  in  all 
likelihood.  As  the  black  cloud  with  the  sway- 
ing funnel  nears  a  roaring  is  heard.  Darkness 
falls.  The  roar  increases.  .  .  .  Instantly  it  is 
over. 

Now  that  you've  been  through  a  tornado  you 
know  how  it  feels, —  almost.  After  the  funnel 
passes  hail  falls,  lightning  flashes  through  the 
lessening  murk.  Heavy  rain  succeeds,  and  if 
you're  alive  you  go  out  and  rescue  the  perishing. 

The  wind  velocity  in  the  path  of  a  tornado  is 
enormous, —  anything  up  to  500  miles  an  hour, 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     181 

—  but  no  instruments  have  been  devised  to  with- 
stand the  strain.  Varying  pressures  are  re- 
sponsible for  the  destruction.  As  the  funnel 
passes  over  a  house  where  the  normal  air  pres- 
sure is  about  2,000  pounds  to  the  square  foot  it 
removes  1,500  pounds  for  an  instant.  Natu- 
rally the  outside  walls  cannot  withstand  this 
enormous  inside  out  pressure  and  the  house  ex- 
plodes like  a  projectile.  Only  under  such  con- 
ditions could  the  vagaries  of  matter, —  straws 
piercing  logs  and  chickens  bereft  of  every 
feather  —  be  perhaps  not  explained  but  par- 
doned. 

Stories  of  any  degree  of  incredibility  crop  up 
after  each  tornado,  often  with  accompanying 
photographs  as  proof.  People  are  plastered 
with  mud,  pianos  are  deposited  in  neighboring 
lots,  babies  are  hung  up  unhurt  by  their  clothes 
in  tree-tops,  and  often  one  person  is  killed  and 
another  nearby  escapes  unhurt,  Bible-fashion. 

Tornadoes  may  form  almost  anywhere,  but 
they  are  never  found  on  the  immediate  Pacific 
coast.  They  are  most  common  in  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley,  are  rather  common  in  the  Gulf 
States,  and  have  occurred  throughout  most  of 
the  East  at  one  time  or  another. 

Since  there  is  no  way  of  stopping  them  the 
next  best  thing  is  to  know  the  conditions  that 


132     READING  THE  WEATHER 

make  for  their  formation.  If  the  Weather  Bu- 
reau predicts  a  cold  wave  for  sections  of  the 
country  where  the  weather  is  already  abnor- 
mally warm  the  line  of  meeting  will  probably 
produce  a  tornado  somewhere.  The  officials, 
however,  advise  you  not  to  worry  until  you  see 
the  intensely  black  cloud  in  the  southwest  trail- 
ing its  funnel.  See  where  this  funnel  is  tending 
and  run  the  other  way.  All  tornadoes  progress 
from  the  southwest  to*  the  northeast.  Bad  as 
they  are,  this  makes  them  far  less  terrifying 
than  if  they  whipped  back  and  forth  over  a 
town  or  chased  you  around  the  pasture.  If  you 
happen  to  be  in  the  house,  take  to  the  cellar,  the 
southwest  corner  of  it.  If  you  can't  escape  lie 
face  down  to  the  ground. 

The  only  tornado  that  I  have  ever  witnessed 
was  an  undeveloped  one  in  England,  and  a  bit 
lethargic  compared  to  those  of  the  Prairie 
States.  But  even  this  blew  an  entire  train  off 
the  track.  It  had  all  the  other  appurtenances 
of  a  tornado,  the  hail,  the  twisted  trees,  the 
narrow  southwest  to  northeast  path.  The  fact 
that  the  houses  had  only  corners  of  their  roofs 
blown  off  showed  that  as  a  tornado  it  was  dis- 
tinctly second-grade  and  without  power  to  ex- 
plode. 

England,  shortly  after,  was  raided  by  three 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     133 

water-spouts.  These  phenomena  are  caused  by 
precisely  the  same  conditions  as  are  the  torna- 
does. They  form  over  the  sea,  and  the  funnel 
is  composed  of  water.  They  take  considerable 
bodies  of  water  up  into  the  skies  and  torrential 
rains  result  over  adjacent  districts.  If  I  re- 
member correctly,  two  of  the  English  water- 
spouts broke  against  the  cliffs  and  the  other, 
moving  inland  in  modified  form,  gave  Glouces- 
ter a  nine-inch  rain.  Ships  have  been  known  to 
fire  cannon  at  these  spouts.  If  one  hit  a  boat 
directly  damage  might  be  caused,  but  they  have 
little  of  the  destructive  force  of  the  tornado. 

As  our  country  builds  up  the  destruction 
from  this  most  powerful  of  all  phenomena  is 
likely  to  increase.  Bureau  warnings  over 
phones  may  result  in  the  saving  of  some  lives; 
cellars  will  undoubtedly  be  built  in  the  principal 
zones.  But  the  problem  is  an  interesting  one, 
for  unlike  the  waterspout,  cannon  cannot  be  em- 
ployed to  shatter  an  emptiness  that  stalks  the 
more  malignantly  the  emptier  it  is.' 

THE  HURRICANE 

The  tropical  hurricane  is  undoubtedly  na- 
ture's mightiest  exhibit.  The  hurricane  is  the 
cyclone  par  excellence.  It  does  not  differ  from 
our  ordinary  weekly  cyclone  in  the  essentials  of 


134     READING  THE  WEATHER 

wind  rotation  or  pressures  or  rainfall;  but  it 
does  differ  in  place  of  birth,  in  its  course,  and 
chiefly  in  its  intensity. 

The  genuine  hurricane  is  a  West  Indian  pro- 
duction. It  is  generally  cradled  in  those  islands 
south  and  east  of  Jamaica  and  Cuba.  It  is 
nursed  by  the  trade-winds.  The  first  notice  of 
its  birth  is  an  alteration  in  these  winds,  which 
are  among  the  most  regular  observances  on  our 
planet.  An  extensive  formation  of  cirrus 
clouds  spreads  over  the  sky  and  the  barometer, 
which  has  been  stationary  for  some  days,  edges 
off  and  begins  a  long  and  gradual  fall.  Great 
rollers  are  noticed  for  a  day  or  two  before  the 
winds  rise.  A  hurricane  moves  slowly. 

This  tropical  organization  is  superior  in 
depth  to  our  shallow,  disc-like,  continental  cy- 
clone which  is  one  and  rarely  over  two  miles 
thick.  The  hurricane  rears  its  head  three,  four, 
and  even  five  miles  high.  Instead,  too,  of  dis- 
sipating its  force  over  thousands  of  miles  at 
once  it  is  only  a  few  hundred  miles  in  diameter. 
Its  center  moves  methodically  along  at  the  not 
very  impressive  speed  of  fifteen  miles  an  hour, 
while  our  cyclones  hurry  along  at  thirty.  But 
the  hurricane  is  thorough.  The  wind  about  its 
center  reaches  a  velocity  of  120  miles  an  hour. 
This  velocity  has  never  yet  been  attained  on  the 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     135 

surface  of  the  earth  by  our  trans-continental  cy- 
clone. 

Our  cyclone  always  has  an  eastward  trend; 
the  hurricane  has  a  parabolic  course.  It  begins 
by  moving  west  on  the  trades,  drifting  and  deal- 
ing destruction  to  the  banana  and  sugar  planta- 
tions of  Jamaica.  It  enters  the  Gulf  of  Mex- 
ico, and  since  it  is  then  pretty  much  out  of  the 
influence  of  the  trades  it  curves  to  the  right  and 
begins  to  act  like  any  other  storm  by  heading 
directly  for  the  St.  Lawrence.  If  it  passes  out 
through  the  Florida  straits  it  never  reaches  the 
St.  Lawrence  but  speeds  up  the  coast  and  out  to 
sea,  usually  at  Hatteras  to  follow  the  shipping 
routes  across  the  North  Atlantic. 

But  if  it  has  become  so  involved  in  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico  that  it  cannot  escape  to  sea  again,  it 
comes  up  through  the  Gulf  States  and  on  toward 
New  England.  Fortunately  as  it  goes  inland 
its  intensity  diminishes  because  it  has  not  so 
much  energy-giving  moisture  to  draw  from. 
Also  its  sphere  of  action  widens,  its  embrace  is 
less  mighty,  its  characteristics  more  those  of 
an  ordinary  continental  cyclone.  It  manages, 
however,  to  deliver  gales  of  80  miles  an  hour 
along  the  coastal  plain,  increasing  to  100  at  the 
exposed  places  such  as  Hatteras  and  Block 
Island. 


136     READING  THE  WEATHER 

The  intensest  hours  of  a  hurricane  are  those 
when  its  course  is  changing  from  westward  to 
eastward.  Enormous  rainfalls  accompany 
these  storms,  amounting  to  six  inches  in  some 
instances.  Since  one  inch  of  rain  amounts  to 
100  tons  per  acre,  and  64,000  tons  to  a  square 
mile  one  can  imagine  the  great  amount  of  evap- 
oration that  has  taken  place  to  so  saturate  the 
air  as  to  drench  vast  territories  to  such  an  extent. 

While  scarcely  a  year  goes  by  without  one  of 
these  West  Indian  hurricanes  distinguishing 
itself  on  our  shores  the  one  that  visited  Galves- 
ton  in  1904  eclipsed  all.  It  chose  to  turn  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  city.  The  gale  increased  to 
over  100  miles  an  hour  and  the  wind  gauge  then 
blew  away.  The  waters  of  the  Bay  were 
heaped  up  and  three  thousand  lives  were  lost 
in  the  flood  and  wreck  of  flying  houses.  This 
peculiar  storm  did  not  turn  northeast  at  once 
but  ascended  the  Mississippi,  turning  at  the 
Lakes  and  proceeding  down  the  St.  Lawrence 
after  having  spent  a  week  in  our  country. 

The  listless  doldrums  have  sent  us  121  of 
these  storms  in  the  last  generation.  June  has 
seen  8,  July  5,  August  28,  September  40,  and 
October  40. 

Sea-yarners  have  seized  upon  the  hurricane  to 
energize  many  a  flagging  chapter,  and  particu- 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     137 

larly  have  they  emphasized  the  eye  of  the  storm. 
The  eye  is  that  vortex  where  contending  winds 
neutralize  each  other  into  a  calm,  where  the  sun 
shines  out  through  the  scud,  where  the  waves, 
relieved  of  the  great  pressure,  leap  upward  in 
wild  disorder.  Then  the  center  passes  and  the 
wind  flings  itself  upon  the  unlucky  bark  from  the 
opposite  quarter.  Its  first  onslaught  is  always 
represented  as  being  the  fiercest  of  the  whole 
storm  and  gradually  lessening  as  the  center 
drives  farther  away.  This  is  true  in  the  same 
way  that  the  first  attack  of  the  thunderstorm  is 
usually  the  fiercest,  both  being  when  the  pressure 
begins  to  rise.  This  savage  change  to  the 
northwest  is  naturally  the  hardest  of  all  for  the 
ships  to  bear  as  they  must  steady  at  once  against 
the  severest  blast  instead  of  gradually  bracing 
for  its'  culmination.  In  no  department  of 
meteorology  has  fiction  adhered  so  closely  to  the 
facts  as  in  the  sea-rover  accounts  of  the  hur- 
ricane. 

But  in  real  life  there  is  very  little  excuse  for 
the  vessel  to  be  caught  anywhere  near  the  dis- 
astrous center  of  the  storm.  Indeed,  for  gen- 
erations sea-captains  have  known  how  to  escape 
the  deadly  eye.  By  watching  the  barometer 
and  noticing  in  which  direction  the  wind  is  work- 
ing round  they  can  tell  the  course  to  a  nicety 


138     READING  THE  WEATHER 

and  estimate  its  speed.  Then  the  wise  ones  run 
the  other  way  for  even  the  Olympics  and  Im- 
perators  of  the  sea  are  cowed  by  the  might  of 
the  West  Indian. 

The  typhoons  of  the  West  Pacific  are  similar 
manifestations. 

The  hurricane  moves  off  from  its  birthplace 
so  slowly  that  our  Weather  Bureau  has  an  op- 
portunity to  size  it  up,  to  chart  its  probable 
course,  and  to  warn  shipping  interests.  The 
ship-owners,  as  a  class,  appreciate  the  service  of 
the  Bureau  and  obey  its  warnings.  Vessels 
with  cargoes  of  a  total  value  of  $30,000,000 
were  known  to  have  been  detained  in  port  on 
the  Atlantic  coast  by  the  Bureau's  warnings  of 
a  single  hurricane.  Now  that  a  much  vaster 
commerce  will  steam  through  these  dangerous 
waters  toward  the  Panama  Canal  the  warnings 
will  assume  an  even  greater  importance. 

The  best  description  of  a  hurricane  that  it  has 
been  my  fortune  to  read  is  in  a  story  entitled 
"  Chita,"  one  of  the  remarkable  fictions  of 
Lafcadio  Hearn.  As  truthfully  as  a  scientist 
and  with  great  beauty  of  style  he  has  pictured 
the  long  days  of  burning  sun,  the  foreboding 
calmr  the  thickening  haze,  the  ominous  increas- 
ing swell  of  the  ocean,  a  breathless  night  with 
the  lightning  glowing  from  between  piling 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     159 

towers  of  cloud,  the  startling  suddenness  of  the 
wind's  attack,  its  fury,  the  hissing  rain,  the 
shrill  crescendo  of  the  gale. 

CLOUDBURST 

It  is  the  American  tendency  to  exaggerate. 
We  call  every  snowstorm  a  blizzard,  every 
breeze  a  gale,  every  shower  a  cloudburst.  In 
our  generous  vocabulary  it  never  rains  but  it 
pours.  Consequently  if  we,  in  the  East,  ever 
had  a  real  blizzard  or  a  real  cloudburst  we 
should  be  at  a  considerable  loss  to  find  words 
for  an  unprofane  description.  I  do  not  know 
how  they  manage  out  West  where  these  things 
occur. 

A  genuine  cloudburst  must  be  an  amazing 
spectacle.  It  is  caused  by  a  furious  updraft  of 
wind  keeping  a  rainstorm  in  suspense  until  so 
much  water  has  accumulated  that  it  has  to  let  go 
all  at  once  and  the  accumulation  descends  like  a 
wet  blanket. 

This  phenomenon  is  staged  in  the  mountains ; 
most  often  in  the  Rockies  where  melting  snow 
and  desert-hot  ravines  provide  the  necessary  ex- 
tremes of  temperature.  Wind  blowing  up  a 
mountain-side  can  maintain  considerable  force, 
—  so  much  that  a  man  cannot  possibly  walk 
against  it.  Black  thunder  clouds  brew  on  the 


140     READING  THE  WEATHER 

peaks.  Suddenly  the  collapse,  and  the  person 
who  tells  the  story  afterward  finds  himself 
struggling  in  a  torrent  that  a  minute  before  had 
been  a  dry  gulch.  The  moral  of  the  story 
seems  to  be  that  if  you  are  camping  in  the  moun- 
tains and  there  is  a  strong  upstream  wind  blow- 
ing and  the  clouds  darken  about  the  hill-tops 
and  the  thunder  mumbles  then  don't  make  your 
bed  in  the  creek-bottom  lands.  The  high  water 
marks  of  former  freshets,  but  not  of  cloud- 
bursts, show  on  the  side  of  the  stream. 

Even  in  the  less  impulsive  East  a  couple  of 
inches  of  rain  make  a  surprising  rise  in  a  little 
creek. 

THE  HALO 

The  halo  is  a  luminous  circle  around  the 
moon  or  the  sun.  It  is  caused  by  the  refraction 
of  light  passing  through  moisture,  which  at  the 
usual  height  is  in  the  form  of  ice-crystals.  The 
halo  when  complete  consists  of  two  large  circles 
whose  diameters  are  constant,  45  and  92  de- 
grees. Then  there  are  often  other  arches  in 
contact.  At  each  point  of  contact  occurs  a  par- 
helion which  is  a  mock  sun  of  brilliant  colors 
and  called  a  sun-dog.  Since  the  sun-dog  is 
brighter  than  the  other  parts  of  the  halo  it  some- 
times appears  when  the  rest  of  the  halo  cannot 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     141 

be  seen.  Sun-dogs  hunt  in  pairs  or  fours.  If 
the  halo  is  colored  the  red  is  on  the  inside. 
When  the  colors  are  caused  by  diffraction  in- 
stead of  refraction,  the  red  is  on  the  outside  of 
the  prismatic  ring  and  the  halo  is  called  a  corona. 

Having  now  satisfied  the  demands  of  science 
all  that  can  be  forgotten  except  that  the  halo 
around  either  sun  or  moon  means  excess  mois- 
ture in  the  atmosphere.  The  wide  halos  are 
seen  in  the  high  cirrus  clouds  25,  36,  48  hours 
in  advance  of  a  cyclone.  At  first  the  ring  is 
very  wide  and  faint  with  several  stars  in  it.  If 
the  storm  is  advancing  rapidly  the  halo  bright- 
ens and  narrows  and  the  stars  fade.  This  is 
proof  to  show  that  the  proverb  stating  that  the 
number  of  stars  inside  the  ring  is  a  forecast  of 
the  number  of  days  of  storm  is  sheer  nonsense. 
For  presently  the  ring  closes  and  the  stars  dis- 
appear which  would  show  according  to  the 
proverb  that  the  storm  had  changed  its  mind  and 
would  cut  down  the  number  of  days  from  several 
to  none. 

The  moon  grows  paler.  The  light  that  it 
casts  upon  the  earth  is  eerie  at  this  stage. 
Within  a  few  hours  the  cocoon  of  mist  is  com- 
pletely woven  about  the  moon.  The  circle  has 
closed.  Snow  or  rain  begins  within  a  few  hours 
after  the  moon  has  entirely  disappeared.  If  it 


READING  THE  WEATHER 

does  not  so  begin  it  shows  that  the  process  of 
increasing  humidity  is  a  very  slow  one  and  the 
storm  center  is  probably  passing  far  to  one  side 
of  the  observer.  Also  if  the  snow  begins  be- 
fore the  light  of  the  moon  is  entirely  suppressed 
the  disturbance  is  a  shallow  one  and  the  storm 
will  be  light. 

When  the  halo  is  actually  a  corona  (red  out- 
side) the  approach  of  the  storm  can  be  gauged 
by  the  rapidity  with  which  the  circle  grows 
smaller.  For  a  decrease  in  diameter  denotes 
that  the  size  of  the  moisture  drops  is  increasing 
and  therefore  the  storm  is  approaching.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  the  corona  will  have  disappeared 
long  before  the  time  for  rain.  Still  it  is  useful 
to  know  that  if  the  corona  increases  in  size  the 
conditions  are  clearing.  With  the  halo  the  re- 
verse holds.  For  when  the  clouds  are  very  high 
the  halo  looks  small,  and  high  clouds  imply 
swifter  winds  and  a  greater  distance  from  the 
storm  center. 

The  Zufii  Indians  who  have  an  eye  for  the 
picturesque  as  well  as  for  the  truth  state  the 
chief  fact  about  haloes  happily:  "When  the 
sun  is  in  his  house  it  will  rain  soon."  Another 
saying  of  theirs  anent  cumulus  clouds  holds  for 
our  country  as  well  as  for  theirs :  ;'  When  the 
clouds  rise  in  terraces  of  white,  soon  will  the 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     143 

country  of  the  corn-priests  be  pierced  with  the 
arrows  of  rain." 

There  are  many  little  observations  which  the 
man  who  has  kept  the  corner  of  his  eye  open 
may  profit  by  and  yet  which  are  rather  difficult 
to  express  in  type.  Who  could  describe  an  egg 
for  instance  whose  springtide  of  youth  was  far 
behind  and  yet  was  not  quite  ready  for  the  dis- 
card! In  nature  it  is  the  fleeting  moment  of 
transition,  the  half-tones  of  the  border  that  are 
so  hard  to  catch,  so  difficult  to  portray,  and  yet 
so  very  important  not  to  miss  if  one  is  to  become 
sure.  There  follow  some  of  the  baldest  and 
most  communicable  half-facts  about  the  weather 
that  should  be  used  oftener  to  bolster  up  some 
opinion  gleaned  from  more  positive  sources  than 
to  mould  one  in  their  own  strength. 

Moisture  in  the  atmosphere  helps  sight*  to  a 
certain  extent.  For  when  the  air  is  full  of  mois- 
ture its  temperature  tends  to  become  equalized, 
obliterating  irregularities  which  would  other- 
wise reflect  the  vibrations  producing  sight  and 
sound.  So  if  one  hears  better  or  sees  better  on 
a  certain  day  it  augurs  a  moister  atmosphere, — 
an  auxiliary  sign  if  there  is  a  view  that  you  are 
fond  of  looking  at  many  times  a  day.  In  the 
city,  alas,  clearer  vision  on  one  day  than  another 
means  merely  that  less  coal  is  being  used.  But 


144     READING  THE  WEATHER 

in  camp  there  is  very  often  a  perceptible  differ- 
ence in  one's  seeing  ability  even  on  days  that 
could  all  be  classed  as  clear. 

Another  thing  that  the  haunter  of  the  woods 
may  notice  is  that  his  smelling  capacity  is  in- 
creased before  a  storm.  The  increase  of  hu- 
midity which  precedes  a  rain  buoys  up  odors 
and  depresses  smoke.  Even  in  dry  weather  if 
you  will  stroll  by  a  marsh  you  will  notice  how 
rank  the  vegetation  smells  and  how  the  smells 
float  in  layers  in  the  air  strata  of  different  hu- 
midity. One's  sense  of  smell  is  a  very  slender 
thread  on  which  to  hang  a  storm,  however. 

Fires  burn  more  briskly  in  dry  air  than  in 
moist,  but  to  tell  the  difference  (if  you  can't 
feel  it)  you  must  be  very  sure  that  your  wood  is 
as  dry  on  one  day  as  on  another. 

Before  a  rain  many  plants  close  their  flowers 
or  shift  their  leaves.  The  dandelion,  pimper- 
nel, red  clover,  silver  maple  are  good  examples 
of  this,  but  they  would  not  be  of  much  use  in  the 
North  Woods.  The  closing,  too,  takes  place 
only  a  few  hours  before  rain  and  is  merely  con- 
firmation of  the  signals  rendered  more  ade- 
quately by  clouds  and  winds. 

Bugs  and  flies  are  particularly  annoying  be- 
fore a  storm  and  it  is  surprising  that  the  spider 
should  not  take  advantage  of  this  to  get  a  meal. 


SKY  SIGNS  FOR  CAMPERS     145 

But  spiders  are  cautious  and  they  never  spin  a 
web  on  the  grass,  at  least  on  the  day  that  brings 
a  storm.  The  insects  do  not  fly  so  high  on 
these  weather-breeding  days  and  consequently 
the  birds  that  feed  on  them  fly  lower.  The 
chimney  swifts  are  a  particularly  good  guide 
to  the  different  altitudes  at  which  insects  fly. 

The  stars  are  on  a  par  with  bugs  as  weather 
guides,  although  there  are  many  proverbs  that 
grant  them  much.  One  circumstance  should 
not  be  neglected,  however,  and  that  is  that  wind 
mixes  air  and  when  air  is  well  mixed  atmos- 
pheric inequalities  are  less  disturbing  to  vision. 
Hence  when  one  can  see  the  stars  and  the  moon 
well  wind  currents  are  oftenest  the  cause.  Even 
if  it  is  not  blowing  on  earth  these  wind  currents 
may  yet  be  blowing  above  to  reach  the  earth 
later.  In  this  way  cold  waves  arrive.  There  is 
an  old  proverb  about  this  condition,  applying  it 
to  the  moon,  "  Sharp  horns  do  threaten  windy 
weather." 

But  the  stars  are  of  second  rate  importance 
because  they  are  so  soon  obscured.  If  you  can't 
see  them  it  is  cloudy,  but  you  do  not  know  what 
kind  of  cloud  it  is.  If  only  the  brightest  show, 
a  veil  of  cirrus  is  arriving.  A  dark  sky  with 
only  a  few  dim  stars  is  an  omen  of  storms.  If 
the  stars  twinkle  it  is  because  the  varying  cur- 


146     READING  THE  WEATHER 

rents  of  the  upper  air  are  in  juxtaposition.  If 
they  twinkle  while  the  northwest  wind  is  on  it  is 
a  sign  of  colder  weather, —  not  because  they  are 
twinkling  but  because  of  the  northwest  wind. 

In  the  days  when  almanacs  were  the  sole 
guides  to  the  weather  a  man  with  a  sense  of 
humor,  Butler  by  name,  got  out  one  and  dedi- 
cated it  to  "  Torpid  Liver  and  Inflammatory 
Rheumatism,  the  Most  Insistent  Weather 
Prophets  Known  to  Suffering  Mortals."  Rheu- 
matism is  following  the  almanac  to  the  scrap 
heap,  and  it  would  be  harder  for  a  camper  to 
guess  what  a  torpid  liver  was  like  than  to  fore- 
cast the  weather,  yet  for  the  majority  of  "  suf- 
fering mortals  "  there  is  still  much  truth  in  the 
amiable  observation  of  Mr.  Butler, 

"As  old  sinners  have  old  points 

O'  the  compass  in  their  bones  and  joints." 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   BAROMETER 

*W"  "Y  THATEVER  the  foregoing  chapters 
%  /\  I  may  imply  as  to  the  whole  world 

T  T  g°mg  camping  the  fact  is  that  the 
woods  are  still,  unfortunately,  for  the  few. 
The  woodsman  must  yield  gracefully  to  the 
suburbanite, —  in  numbers. 

But  the  weather  is  for  everybody.  To  be 
sure  the  sunrise  that  talks  so  confidentially  to 
the  hunter  of  the  coming  day  does  not  exist 
for  the  commuter.  But  the  coming  day  does, 
even  though  the  things  it  means  are  essentially 
different.  To  the  hunter  with  his  seasoned 
clothes  and  well-earned  health  a  rain  is  only  of 
concern  in  so  much  as  it  affects  the  business  of 
the  day;  personally  it  is  of  small  moment.  But 
to  the  commuter  what  does  the  weather  mean? 
Dollars  and  cents,  of  course.  His  business  goes 
on,  but  to  his  person  one  unexpected  shower  = 
the  cost  of  pressing  a  suit;  one  thorough  soak- 
ing —  one  doctor's  bill.  For  you  cannot  expect 

147 


148     READING  THE  WEATHER 

the  man  to  throw  off  a  chill  who  can  quiet  his 
conscience  on  the  matter  of  daily  exercise  by 
watering  the  geraniums  and  reading  the  news- 
paper. 

Weather  wisdom  is  necessary  for  the  hunter; 
for  the  commuter  it  pays. 

The  hunter  had  to  rely  on  local  weather  signs. 
The  commuter  can  go  him  one  better  by  invest- 
ing $10  (how  finance  will  creep  in!)  in  a  little 
aneroid  barometer.  The  local  weather  signs 
were  good  for  twelve  hours  at  the  longest.  The 
barometer  is  a  faithful  instrument  that  adds 
another  twelve  hours  to  a  man's  knowledge. 
Half  a  day,  or  even  a  day  before  any  local  sign 
of  changing  wind  or  growing  cloud  appears  the 
barometer  is  on  the  job.  It  will  register  in 
Philadelphia  the  news  of  a  disturbance  ap- 
proaching the  Mississippi.  So  sensitive  is  it 
that  it  is  the  slave  to  every  wave  of  the  great 
air  ocean. 

The  barometer  gauges  for  the  eye  the  amount 
of  atmosphere  that  is  piled  above  one.  If  the 
amount  is  normal  and  at  sea-level  the  instrument 
will  measure  30.00  inches.  This  air  pressure  is 
equivalent  to  a  column  of  water  30  feet  high. 
As  this  would  make  unwieldy  prognosticators 
the  scientists  use  mercury  instead,  which  requires 
a  column  less  than  three  feet  long.  And  for 


THE  BAROMETER  149 

general  purposes  this  is  supplanted  by  the  handy 
little  aneroid  (which  means  "without  fluid"). 
This  is  so  fixed  that  the  pressure  of  the  air  in- 
fluences the  upper  surface  of  a  vacuum  chamber, 
balanced  perfectly  between  this  pressure  and  a 
main  spring.  This  action  is  transmitted  to  an 
index  hand  moving  across  the  dial  marked  into 
fractions  of  inches  after  the  manner  of  the  recog- 
nized standard,  the  mercurial  barometer. 

When  the  warm  moist  light  air  of  a  cyclone 
invades  a  locality  the  pressure  is  partially  re- 
moved, the  vacuum  chamber  is  not  pressed  so 
hard  and  the  dial  hand  or  the  mercury  subsides. 
When  the  cold,  dry,  heavy  air  of  the  anticyclone 
lumbers  in  more  pressure  is  applied  and  the  mer- 
cury, or  the  dial  hand,  climbs.  So  a  falling 
barometer  means  a  storm,  a  rising  one  fair 
weather. 

That  is  a  generality  that  glitters.  If  that 
were  all  there  was  to  it  weather  officials  would 
have  a  sinecure.  But  each  cyclone  varies  in  size, 
intensity,  and  rate  of  progress.  Some  do  not 
advance  for  days.  Therefore  there  has  grown 
up  a  pretty  large  body  of  information  as  each 
storm  has  had  to  be  watched  and  the  barometric 
movements  recorded.  The  most  important 
variations  follow: 

Remembering  that  30.00  inches  is  sea-level 


150     READING  THE  WEATHER 

normal,  if  the  barometer  is  steady  at  30.10  or 
30.20  the  weather  will  remain  fair  as  long  as 
the  steadiness  continues,  and  on  the  turn,  if  the 
fall  proceeds  slowly  with  the  wind  from  a 
westerly  direction  fair  to  partly  cloudy  weather 
with  slowly  rising  temperature  will  follow  for 
two  days. 

If  the  barometer  rises  rapidly  from  30.10  the 
fall  will  be  equally  rapid  and  rain  or  snow  may 
be  expected  within  a  couple  of  days.  Since  the 
depressions  of  the  atmosphere  tend  to  a  certain 
regularity  about  the  center  of  the  storm  it  fol- 
lows that  the  reactions  will  follow  the  actions  in 
similar  manner, —  a  long  rise  portending  a  long 
fall  and  a  variable  glass  meaning  unsettled  con- 
ditions. 

The  barometer  does  not  rise  with  wind  from 
an  easterly  direction  unless  a  shift  is  imminent. 
In  winter  the  air  is  so  much  colder  over  the  land 
than  over  the  sea  that  the  air  brought  in  by  an 
easterly  wind  is  soon  condensed.  Consequently 
with  winds  from  the  south  or  southeast,  even  if 
the  barometer  is  30.20  or  30.10  and  falling 
slowly  rain  usually  arrives  (and  rain  of  course 
is  meant  to  include  snow  whenever  the  mercury 
is  below  the  freezing  point)  within  24  hours. 
If  the  fall  is  rapid  there  may  be  precipitation 


THE  BAROMETER  151 

within  12  hours,  and  the  wind  will  rapidly  in- 
crease and  the  temperature  rise. 

If  the  wind  is  from  the  east  or  northeast  and 
the  barometer  30.10  or  above  and  falling  slowly 
it  means  rain  within  24  hours  in  winter.  In 
summer  if  the  wind  is  light  rain  may  not  fall  for 
a  day  or  so.  If  the  fall  is  rapid  in  winter  rain 
with  increasing  winds  will  often  set  in  when  the 
barometer  begins  its  fall  and  the  wind  gets  to 
a  point  a  little  east  of  north. 

If  the  barometer  is  30.00  or  below  and  falling 
slowly  with  northeast  to  southeast  winds  the 
storm  will  continue  24  to  48  hours.  If  the 
barometer  falls  rapidly  the  wind  will  be  high 
with  rain  and  the  change  to  rising  barometer 
with  clearing  and  colder  will  probably  come 
within  20  to  30  hours. 

If  the  barometer  is  below  30.00  but  rising 
slowly  the  clear  weather  will  last  several  days. 

If  the  barometer  is  29.80  or  below  and  fall- 
ing rapidly  with  winds  south  of  east  a  severe 
storm  is  at  hand  to  be  followed  within  24  hours 
by  clearing  and  colder.  Under  the  same  con- 
ditions but  with  northeast  winds  there  will  occur 
heavy  snow  followed  by  a  cold  wave. 

If  these  promises  do  not  always  bear  fruit  it 
is  because  they  will  have  been  interrupted  by  an 


152     READING  THE  WEATHER 

unseen  shifting  of  the  atmospheric  weights. 
But  the  barometer  will  record  them.  A  rapid 
rise  may  be  checked  in  ascent  and  the  instrument 
may  fluctuate  like  a  stock-ticker.  Its  tale  is  of 
very  unsettled  weather  conditions  and  conse- 
quently no  particular  brand  of  weather  will  last 
for  very  long  at  a  time. 

A  sudden  rise  of  the  barometer  may  bring  its 
gale  of  wind  as  well  as  a  sudden  fall.  But  the 
tendency  will  be  toward  clearing  and  much 
colder. 

A  fall  of  the  barometer  on  a  west  wind  is  not 
common.  It  means  rain.  A  rise  on  a  south 
wind  means  fair.  A  low  barometer  and  a  cold 
south  wind  mean  a  change  to  west  with  squalls 
for  a  while.  On  the  other  hand,  a  high  barom- 
eter with  warmer  weather  means  a  shift  of  the 
wind  to  southerly  quarters  and  an  imminent  fall. 

If  the  barometer  rises  fast  and  the  tempera- 
ture does,  too,  look  for  another  storm.  This 
is  often  noticed  in  summer. 

There  is  a  slight  daily  oscillation  of  the  mer- 
cury, which,  if  other  things  are  steady,  registers 
highest  at  10  A.  M.  and  10  P.  M.  and  lowest  at  4 
A.  M.  and  4  P.M. 

If  this  data  confuses  bear  in  mind  the  simple 
ordinary  progress  of  the  barometer  in  the  usual 
storm:  First,  it  will  stand  steady  for  a  day  or 


THE  BAROMETER  153 

so  at  any  point  between  30.10  and  30.50. 
Then  the  glass  will  begin  (for  most  storms)  to 
fall  gradually.  As  the  center  nears  the  fall 
hastens.  After  the  lowest  point  has  been 
reached  a  slight  rise  will  be  followed  by  another 
slight  fall  and  then  the  final  long  rise  will  com- 
mence. The  rain  begins  and  ceases  at  different 
stages  for  different  storms,  depending  upon  the 
wind's  velocity  and  direction. 

For  every  900  feet  of  altitude  the  height  of 
the  mercury  is  about  one  inch  less.  Do  not 
complain  that  your  barometer  is  inaccurate  if 
you  are  living  up  in  the  mountains  and  your 
readings  are  not  the  same  as  the  weather  re- 
ports which  are  reduced  to  sea  level.  All  the 
figures  given  in  this  chapter  are  for  sea  level  and 
if  your  house  is  1900  feet  above  you  must  move 
the  copper  hand  of  your  aneroid  1.95  inches 
from  the  pressure  hand.  If  the  pressure  hand 
would  read  28.05  the  adjustable  copper  hand 
would  read  30.00  which  is  the  sea  level  reading. 

One  good  thing  to  remember  is  that  a  barom- 
eter falls  lower  for  high  winds  than  for  heavy 
rain.  A  fall  of  two-  or  three-tenths  of  an  inch 
in  four  hours  brings  a  gale.  If  the  ordinary 
gale  the  wind  blows  hardest  when  the  barometer 
begins  its  rise  from  a  very  low  point. 

In  summer  a  suddenly  falling  barometer  fore- 


154     READING  THE  WEATHER 

tells  a  thunderstorm,  and  if  the  corresponding 
rise  does  not  at  once  take  place  the  unsettled 
conditions  will  continue  with  probably  another 
thunderstorm.  If  you  see  the  thunderstorm 
first,  that  is,  if  the  barometer  is  not  affected  by 
the  approaching  black  cloud  you  may  be  sure 
that  the  storm  will  amount  to  nothing. 

The  man  in  the  fields  or  along  the  shore  has 
many  natural  barometers  in  animal  life.  But 
these  natural  barometers  only  corroborate ;  they 
do  not  foretell,  at  least  very  long  before.  Some 
are  useful  at  times  and  among  these  the  birds  are 
foremost.  The  observant  Zunis  have  incorpo- 
rated this  in  one  of  their  pretty  proverbs, 
'  When  chimney  swallows  circle  and  call  they 
speak  of  rain."  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  swal- 
lows are  circling  most  of  the  time  after  insects. 
If  they  are  flying  high  it  is  because  the  bugs  are 
flying  high  and  that  is  because  there  is  no  danger 
of  rain.  As  the  rain  nears  the  air  gets  moister, 
the  bugs  and  the  birds  fly  lower. 

Whether  they  do  this  because  their  instinct  is 
to  avoid  a  wetting  or  because  the  lighter  atmos- 
phere of  a  cyclone  makes  flying  more  difficult, 
particularly  at  altitudes,  I  do  not  know.  For 
weather  purposes  it  is  enough  to  watch  their 
comparative  levels.  Wild  geese  are  excellent 


THE  BAROMETER  155 

signs,  I  am  told,  but  it  would  be  a  dry  country 
that  waits  for  a  sight  of  them  for  its  rain. 

Bees  localize  before  a  storm  and  will  not 
swarm.  Flies  crowd  upon  the  screens  of  houses 
when  humidity  is  high,  possibly  because  the  ap- 
petizing odors  from  within  are  buoyed  afar  by 
the  heavy  air.  Cuckoos  seek  the  higher  ground 
in  fair  weather  and  disappear  into  bottom  lands 
before  a  rain.  Although  they  are  called  rain- 
crows  they  are  heard  in  all  weathers. 

Smoke  is  as  good  an  evidence  of  barometric 
pressure  as  anything  except  the  instrument 
itself.  On  clear,  still  days  it  will  mount;  on 
humid  days  without  wind  it  will  cling  to  the  hill. 
There  is  that  difference.  But  it  takes  skill  and 
many  comparisons  to  gauge  its  angles  in  the 
wind.  It  becomes  a  test  in  observation  and 
finally  rewards  one  by  becoming  an  excellent  sign 
not  only  of  air  texture  but  of  the  direction  of  its 
currents. 

No  reference  to  barometers  would  be  com- 
plete without  mentioning  spiders.  They  show 
a  most  delicate  apprehension  of  changing  condi- 
tions. If  the  day  is  to  be  fine  and  without  wind 
they  will  run  out  long  threads  and  be  rather 
active.  If  the  rain  is  nearing  they  strengthen 
their  webs,  shorten  the  filaments  and  sit  dully  in 


156     READING  THE  WEATHER 

the  center.  Fresh  webs  on  the  lawn  insure  a 
clear  day.  But  for  the  commuter,  whose  time 
is  money,  there  is  little  leisure  to  consider  the 
spider. 

As  a  natural  result  of  the  variation  in  altitude 
affecting  the  barometer  the  words  which  are 
printed  on  the  face  become  entirely  useless.  In 
some  places  it  would  be  impossible  for  the  needle 
to  point  higher  than  "  Very  Stormy."  Even  at 
sea  level  a  sudden  fall  to  "Fair  "  would  cause  a 
rain,  much  to  the  indignation  of  the  person  who 
thought  that  he  had  purchased  a  self-registering 
weather  prophet.  Disregard  the  words  but 
watch  the  needle  and  you  will  never  be  surprised 
at  what  the  weather  is  doing  next. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   SEASONS 

TOO  great  emphasis  cannot  be  laid  upon 
the  futility,  at  present,  of  trying  to  fore- 
cast the  weather  for  more  than  a  very 
few  days  in  advance.  Long  range  efforts  are 
not  made  by  the  Bureau  because  with  its  present 
limited  knowledge  of  the  factors  that  control 
seasons  and  with  the  present  limited  facilities 
for  collecting  data  the  process  of  looking  into 
next  month  has  not  been  perfected,  and  the  at- 
tempt to  investigate  next  winter's  weather  proves 
scientifically  impossible. 

As  usual,  fakers  step  in  where  science  fears 
to  tread.  With  goose-bones  (not  their  own) 
and  hickory  nuts  they  prophesy  with  all  their 
might.  And  if  their  prophecies  come  true,  as 
sometimes  they  must,  there  is  wide  rejoicing  in 
the  newspapers  and  the  cause  of  science  is  set 
back  by  just  so  much.  But  science  cannot  be 
thwarted  in  the  end  and  every  year  new  dis- 
coveries are  made,  new  speculations  proved  true 
or  forever  false,  and  some  time,  doubtless,  the 

157 


158     READING  THE  WEATHER 

weather  will  be  predicted  from  year  to  year  with 
the  same  85%  accuracy  with  which  the  36  hour 
forecast  is  now  made.  Experimenting  is  worth 
the  little  that  it  costs,  too,  for  to  know  when  the 
summer  is  to  be  dry  or  wet,  hot  or  cold  will  be  a 
boon  to  everybody  and  to  the  farmer  most  of  all. 

One  conclusion  has  already  been  reached  by 
officials  in  the  Weather  Bureau  and  scientists 
generally.  It  has  been  decided  by  long  search 
through  creditable  records,  painstaking  compari- 
sons of  averages  coupled  with  the  most  accurate 
investigations  for  half  a  century,  that,  on  the 
basis  of  ten  years,  our  seasons  do  not  change. 
That  is,  counting  the  decade  as  a  unit,  our 
weather  keeps  to  the  same  level  of  efficiency 
through  the  centuries. 

This  statement  comes  always  as  a  blow.  It 
always  provokes  argument  and  citations  of 
grandmother's  blizzards.  There  is  a  great  and 
universal  hesitation  in  believing  that  our  weather 
is  as  good  to-day  as  it  used  to  be.  The  good  old 
times  when  there  was  a  general  debauch  of  snow 
and  you  could  skate  all  winter  on  anything  but 
the  Atlantic  Ocean  certainly  appear  no  more. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  there  has  been  a  change,  but 
it  has  been  in  our  memories.  In  grandmother's 
youth  the  trains, —  if  they  had  trains  then, — 
doubtless  were  stalled  by  a  big  snow  for  then 


THE  SEASONS  159 

they  did  not  have  rotary  plows.  In  father's  day 
they  may  have  had  an  unbroken  winter  of  sleigh- 
ing. We  couldn't  now;  sleighs  are  extinct. 
But  in  our  time,  in  fact  every  year,  some  record 
is  being  broken  and  the  records  go  back  a  re- 
spectable length  of  time. 

For  example  in  Philadelphia  the  most  accur- 
ate records  made  by  standard  instruments  have 
been  kept  for  43  years.  During  this  time  the 
highest  wind  velocity  was  recorded  in  1878  (75 
miles  an  hour).  The  greatest  rainfall  in  24 
hours  occurred  in  1898  (5.89  inches).  The 
lowest  temperature  was  registered  in  1899  (6 
degrees  below  zero)  ;  the  highest  in  1901  (103 
degrees).  The  greatest  number  of  thunder- 
storms for  any  one  year  took  place  in  1905  when 
we  had  51.  As  late  as  1909  the  heaviest  snow- 
fall ever  recorded  at  this  station,  amounting  to 
21  inches,  occurred.  And  just  a  few  weeks  ago 
(April  3rd,  1915)  it  snowed  19  inches  in  half  as 
many  hours.  All  these  items  do  not  indicate  a 
climate  decreasing  in  virility  very  swiftly. 

But  there  is  more  evidence  yet  that  Phila- 
delphia is  experiencing  the  same  varieties  of 
weather  in  about  the  same  proportions.  Dia- 
ries of  observant  men  running  back  to  1700 
show  that  almost  any  kind  of  memory  could  be 
founded  on  fact,  that  the  same  violent  changes 


160     READING  THE  WEATHER 

in  temperature,  the  same  deep  snows  and  un- 
seasonable seasons  that  we  endure  to-day  were 
noticed  then.  To  quote  : 

'The  whole  winter  of  1780  was  intensely 
cold.  The  Delaware  was  closed  from  the  ist 
of  December  to  the  i4th  of  March.  The  ice 
was  from  two  to  three  feet  thick."  We  de- 
spaired of  ever  living  up  to  this  until  three  years 
ago  when  the  same  thing  happened  and  sleighs 
crossed  the  river  a  little  above  the  city.  And 
despite  the  new  ice-boats ! 

'  The  winter  of  1779  was  very  mild,  particu- 
larly the  month  of  February  when  trees  were  in 
blossom." 

"  On  the  3 ist  of  December,  1764,  the  Dela- 
ware was  frozen  completely  over  in  one  night, 
and  the  weather  continued  cold  until  the  28th 
of  March  with  snow  about  two  and  a  half  feet 
deep." 

"  The  winter  of  1756  was  very  mild.  The 
first  snow  was  as  late  as  the  i8th  of  March." 

And  so  it  goes.  1750  was  mild;  1742  "  one 
of  the  coldest  since  the  settlement  of  the 
country";  1741  was  intensely  cold,  1725  mild, 
1714  very  mild  after  the  i5th  of  January,  1697 
long,  stormy  and  severely  cold.  The  upshot  of 
it  all  is  that  February  violets  and  April  snows 


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THE  SEASONS  161 

were  just  as  well  known  to  General  Washington 
as  they  are  to  us. 

But  though  all  facts  point  to  the  fact  that  the 
climate  does  not  change  in  a  decade  or  a  genera- 
tion or  a  dozen  generations,  there  is  some  com- 
fort for  those  who  are  not  satisfied  in  knowing 
that  it  doesn't  stay  the  same  forever.  During 
the  carboniferous  times  the  poles  were  as  warm 
as  the  tropics  and  when  the  Ice  Age  came  on  it 
was  very  chilly  everywhere.  If  one  might  only 
live  an  eon  or  two  he  might  then  well  complain 
of  the  changing  climate. 

Climate,  however,  is  one  thing,  weather  an- 
other. The  climate  is  the  sum  total  of  the 
weather.  Climate  is  as  enduring  as  our  Consti- 
tution, the  weather  is  as  changeable  as  our  city 
governments.  No  matter  how  proud  a  scientist 
may  be  of  the  lasting  qualities  of  the  climate,  he 
has  to  admit  that  our  weather,  taken  day  by  day 
or  even  year  by  year,  is  versatile  in  the  extreme. 
And  the  question  he  has  set  himself  to  solve  is 
how  to  explain  the  variations  of  the  seasonable 
weather.  He  wants  to  find  out  why  all  winters 
are  not  alike,  and  why  no  two  successive  springs 
are  the  same.  Then  he  will  be  on  firm  ground 
at  last  and  able  to  make  scientific  forecasts  for 
the  ensuing  year. 


162     READING  THE  WEATHER 

The  obvious  thing  was  to  find  out  as  ac- 
curately as  possible  what  had  happened  and  sci- 
ence's keenest  eye  was  focused  on  records  in  the 
hope  of  discovering  fixed  periods  of  warmth  or 
wetness,  cycles  of  cold  and  drought.  So  far  no 
cycles  have  been  discovered  that  are  beyond  dis- 
pute. Nothing  has  been  found  that  cannot  be 
contradicted  successfully.  This  is  discouraging. 

One  of  the  most  frequent  starting  places  for 
investigators  is  the  spots  on  the  sun.  They 
found  that  periods  of  three,  eight,  eleven,  and 
thirty-five  years  should  bear  some  resemblance ; 
1901  was  eagerly  looked  forward  to.  They 
wanted  it  to  correspond  with  the  remarkably 
cool  summer  of  1867.  When  it  started  off  in 
July  with  a  temperature  of  103  degrees,  the 
highest  ever  recorded  in  Philadelphia,  they  con- 
cluded that  the  sunspots  were  fooling  them.  A 
connection  between  sunspots  and  weather  has 
not  been  established,  therefore,  although  they 
are  now  known  to  affect  the  electrical  condition 
of  the  earth's  atmosphere.  Longer  periods  of 
observation  will  permit  comparisons  that  may 
yet  define  concurrent  cycles  of  sunspots  and 
weather. 

A  definite  weather  cycle  has  not  yet  been  dis- 
covered, but  one  step  in  the  way  has  been  cleared 


THE  SEASONS  163 

up.  We  now  are  pretty  sure  of  one  cause  for 
unusual  single  seasons  of  heat  and  cold. 

There  exist  in  winter  great  bodies  of  cold,  dry 
air  heaped  up  over  Canada  and  Siberia,  which 
are  formed  by  the  greater  rapidity  of  radiation 
over  land  surfaces  than  over  water.  These 
mounds  of  cold  air  build  up  during  December, 
January,  and  February  and  form  great  so-called 
permanent  areas  of  high  barometer.  It  is  on 
the  skirts  of  the  Canadian  high  that  the  smaller 
highs  form  which  sweep  over  our  country,  giv- 
ing us  our  cold  waves.  Also  in  winter  per- 
manent lows  form  over  the  North  Pacific  and 
North  Atlantic  where  warm  currents  afford  con- 
tinuous supplies  of  warm  moist  air.  From  the 
great  Aleutian  (Pacific)  low  spring  most  of  the 
cyclones  which  swing  down  below  the  border  of 
the  Canadian  high,  make  their  turn  somewhere 
in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  then  head  for  the 
Icelandic  low. 

It  can  be  seen  that  if  the  Canadian  high  is  a 
little  stronger  than  usual  and  spreads  a  little 
farther  south,  then  the  northern  half  of  our 
country  will  come  more  directly  under  its  influ- 
ence and  we  will  experience  an  unusually  severe 
winter.  As  the  storms  are  pushed  south  and  as 
the  cold  air  pours  into  the  northern  quadrants 


164     READING  THE  WEATHER 

the  snow  line  is  pushed  south  too.  Hence  all 
abnormally  snowy  winters  are  caused  by  a 
strengthening  of  the  permanent  Canadian  high 
which  may  be  central  anywhere  north  of  our 
Dakota  or  Montana  borders. 

Conversely,  if  this  high  is  weaker  than  usual 
the  cyclones  can  cross  the  country  on  a  line 
farther  north,  there  will  be  less  snow,  and  the 
cold  waves  that  follow  will  be  less  severe  or  even 
non-existent. 

In  summer  the  reverse  occurs.  Great  oceanic 
highs  are  built  up  over  the  South  Atlantic  and 
South  Pacific  and  a  permanent  low  occupies  the 
center  of  our  continent.  The  character  of  the 
season  is  determined  by  the  strength  and  posi- 
tion of  these  areas.  The  eastern  states  are  af- 
fected especially  by  the  slow  movements  of  the 
South  Atlantic  low.  The  puzzle  is  why  should 
these  areas  change  their  power  and  position,  and 
if  they  must  change  why  don't  they  do  it  regu- 
larly? The  puzzle  will  undoubtedly  be  solved. 
These  great  centers  of  action  will  be  plotted 
against  and  observed  from  every  vantage  point 
by  a  thousand  observers.  A  fascinating  field 
for  scientific  speculation  opens. 

At  present  our  Government  exchanges  daily 
observations  with  stations  in  Siberia,  Canada, 
and  the  West  Indies.  The  great  storm-breeder, 


THE  SEASONS  165 

the  Aleutian  Low,  is  watched  from  Alaskan 
shores.  In  the  Atlantic  the  Bureau  needs  sta- 
tionary ships  to  record  the  growth  and  decline 
of  the  High  over  the  Azores.  Knowledge  of 
the  wind  circulation  from  this  would  inform  us 
whether  our  storms  were  to  be  shunted  farther 
north  and  pushed  somewhat  inland.  A  storm 
which  is  pushed  to  the  left  of  its  normal  track 
increases  tremendously  in  intensity.  Whereas 
a  cyclone  that  limps  slackly  to  the  right  of  its 
normal  line  loses  intensity  at  once.  It  misses 
coil.  In  this  respect  storms  seem  to  resemble 
rattlesnakes. 

The  energy  of  the  Azores  High  influences  the 
number  and  destructiveness  of  the  West  Indian 
hurricanes:  the  larger  the  area  is  the  closer  do 
the  hurricanes  hug  our  shores  and  the  more 
destruction  do  they  accomplish. 

The  very  sureness  that  the  general  average  of 
the  seasons  is  to  be  the  same  enables  us  to  guess 
pretty  accurately  for  individual  purposes  as  to 
the  kind  of  season  coming  next.  A  guess,  let  me 
add,  is  not  a  forecast.  It  is  a  gamble  and  dis- 
approved of  by  the  Bureau,  but  until  they  supply 
us  with  a  basis  for  judgment  we  will  have  to  go 
on  guessing,  for  human  curiosity  is  as  near  to 
perpetual  motion  as  the  weather  is  to  the  lacking 
fourth  dimension. 


166     READING  THE  WEATHER 

One  of  these  guesses  is  that  if  the  winter  has 
been  a  warm  one  the  summer  will  be  cool,  for 
the  very  good  reason  that  the  yearly  average 
does  depart  so  slightly  from  the  fixture.  Un- 
fortunately one  hot  summer  does  not  mean  that 
the  following  summer  will  be  cool.  Certain 
sequences  of  the  seasons  have  been  observed 
often  enough  to  have  been  gathered  into  prov- 
erbs. Everybody  agrees  that  "  A  late  spring 
never  deceives."  "  A  year  of  snow,  Fruit  will 
grow."  "  A  green  winter  makes  a  full  church- 
yard." 

Of  the  many  hundreds  of  proverbs  relating  to 
the  seasons  a  few  are  sage,  some  outworn,  and 
many  sheer  nonsense.  Nearly  all  refer  to  the 
obvious  fact  that  one  kind  of  season  is  followed 
by  another  rather  unlike  it,  not  much  telling 
what.  And  there,  unsatisfactorily  enough,  they 
leave  one.  But  much  is  to  be  hoped  for  from 
the  scientific  explorations  now  in  progress.  And 
until  they  are  heard  from  few  of  us  will  realize 
how  many  seasonable  seasons  we  really  enjoy. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   WEATHER   BUREAU 

AT  the  cost  of  a  cent  and  a  half  a  year 
apiece  we  Americans  are  supplied  with 
detailed  information  in  advance  about 
the  weather.     And  the  information  is  correct 
for  more  than  four-fifths  of  the  time.     If  stock 
brokers  never  missed  oftener,  what  reputations 
would  accrue ! 

Cheapness,  accuracy,  and  a  certain  modesty 
are  the  three  qualities  that  distinguish  the  out- 
givings of  the  Bureau  from  the  old-fashioned 
predictions  of  the  weather  which  used  to  appear 
in  almanacs.  Almanacs  have  probably  kept  ap- 
pearing ever  since  the  art  of  printing  first  al- 
lowed unscrupulous  persons  to  juggle  with 
words.  They  cost  fifty  cents  and  their  predic- 
tions were  based  on  nothing  but  the  strength  of 
their  author's  imagination.  Of  course,  it  was 
impossible  for  him  to  guess  wrong  more  than 
half  the  time  so  that  when  he  announced  in 
January  that  July  would  be  hot  with  thunder- 

167 


168     READING  THE  WEATHER 

storms  he  was  often  right.  This  gave  him  pres- 
tige, but  aided  his  clients  little. 

The  Weather  Bureau  was  in  about  the  same 
position  in  regard  to  the  quack  predictions  of 
the  almanacs  as  was  the  honest  doctor  of  the  last 
decade  who  could  only  prescribe  good  food  and 
fresh  air  and  moderate  exercise  for  the  patient 
who  much  preferred  the  expensive  allurements 
of  the  medicinal  cure-all  as  advertised.  In  hu- 
mility the  Bureau  said  that  as  things  stood  it 
could  not  forecast  with  accuracy  for  more  than 
48  hours,  and  its  honesty  brought  it  into  disre- 
gard. 

But,  although  the  Weather  Bureau, —  like  the 
Christian  Church  and  other  things  that  have  had 
to  combat  superstition  at  every  step  —  has 
grown  slowly  it  has  grown  surely  and  its  work 
is  being  recognized  more  widely  and  relied  upon 
more  understandingly  every  month.  It  was  an 
American  scientist  who  discovered  the  rotary 
motion  of  cyclones  and  their  progressive  charac- 
ter, but  due  to  the  conservative  nature  of  our 
Government  three  other  nations  had  established 
weather  services  before  we  had.  In  1870  the 
War  Department  was  authorized  to  start  a  sys- 
tem of  observations  that  would  permit  of  a 
rough  sort  of  forecasting.  The  forecasts 
proved  of  so  much  value  to  shippers  and  sailors 


THE  WEATHER  BUREAU     169 

that  the  work  was  handed  over  to  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  and  enlarged  (1891). 
To-day  every  part  of  our  country  contributes  to 
the  knowledge  of  existing  weather  conditions. 

At  8  A.  M.  observations  are  made  at  hundreds 
of  stations  and  wired  to  the  Central  Office  at 
Washington.  The  Chief  there,  knowing  these 
conditions,  is  enabled  to  locate  a  storm,  to  gauge 
its  rate  of  speed,  to  learn  its  course,  and  to 
measure  its  intensity.  He  can  dictate  storm 
warnings  and  be  sure  that  within  an  hour  every 
sailing  master  will  have  a  copy.  He  can  detect 
a  cold  wave  at  its  entrance  into  our  territory  and 
know  that  within  an  hour  every  shipper,  every 
truckster  (who  has  signified  that  he  wishes  to  be 
informed)  will  have  the  facts  that  will  save  him 
money. 

At  8  P.  M.  the  same  stations  telegraph  the 
changed  conditions,  and  if  any  very  violent  dis- 
turbance is  in  progress  an  observation  is  made  at 
noon.  Besides  the  Washington  distributing  sta- 
tion there  are  1700  others  from  which  warn- 
ings are  sent  by  telegraph,  telephone,  or  mail. 
There  are  100,000  addresses  on  the  mailing  list 
and  5,000,000  telephone  subscribers  can  get 
them  within  an  hour.  The  newspapers  reach 
many  millions.  And  all  this  at  a  cost  of  il/2 
cents  a  year.  If  we,  in  a  fit  of  generosity, 


170     READING  THE  WEATHER 

should  pay  2  cents,  or  even  2^  the  Government 
would  be  enabled  to  work  out  many  of  the  larger 
problems  awaiting  only  a  larger  appropriation 
to  be  attacked. 

The  people's  investment  of  $1,600,000  a 
year  is  a  good  investment.  In  one  year  the 
Service  saves  a  great  many  hundred  per  cent. 
A  few  known  savings  are  worth  giving;  $3,500,- 
ooo  worth  of  protection  was  made  possible  from 
one  exceptionally  severe  cold  wave;  the  Cali- 
fornia citrus  growers  estimated  that  one  warn- 
ing saved  $14,000,000  worth  of  fruit;  $30,000,- 
ooo  of  shipping  (and  cargoes)  was  known  to 
have  been  detained  in  port  just  on  account  of  one 
hurricane  warning,  and  there  are  many  warnings 
of  gales  every  year.  Uncalculated  savings  have 
been  effected  among  the  growers  of  tobacco, 
sugar,  cranberries,  truck.  The  railway  and 
transportation  companies  save,  through  use  of 
the  forecasts,  in  shipments  of  bananas,  oysters, 
fish,  and  eggs.  Farmers,  manufacturers,  raisin 
driers,  photographers,  insurance  companies,  and 
about  a  hundred  and  fifty  other  occupations  in- 
crease their  profits  by  a  systematic  study  of  the 
forecasts. 

The  people  who  live  along  the  rivers  often 
owe  their  lives  and  frequently  much  of  their 
property  to  telephone  warnings  of  approaching 


. 


THE  WEATHER  BUREAU     171 

floods.  The  flood  stages  in  all  the  principal 
rivers  and  streams  have  been  calculated  and 
losses  are  reduced  by  75  per  cent,  by  accurate 
predictions  as  to  when  the  crest  of  the  flood  may 
be  expected  and  how  high  it  will  reach.  A  hun- 
dred uses  of  river  forecasts,  even  when  flood 
stages  are  not  expected  are  given  in  the  booklet, 
"  The  Weather  Bureau  "  which  you  can  have 
from  Washington  for  the  asking,  like  many  an- 
other of  their  publications. 

Yet,  with  all  the  good  it  does,  the  man  on  the 
street  still  regards  the  Bureau  as  an  uninterest- 
ing, undependable  exhibit  in  the  upper  corner  of 
the  newspaper, —  if  he  regards  it  at  all.  It  is 
his  child,  however,  who  is  instructing  him.  For 
his  child  is  being  taught  in  the  public  school  all 
about  it  and  he  takes  his  teaching  home  and 
becomes  the  teacher.  The  child  is  father  of  the 
(old)  man  in  lots  of  instances. 

The  most  impressive  thing  about  the  whole 
output  of  the  Bureau  to  the  child  is  its  Map. 
The  Bureau  issues  a  map  every  day  which  is 
posted  in  post-offices  and  railroad  stations  and 
in  schools,  too,  if  they  ask  for  it.  And  every 
day  this  map  shows  in  all  its  gripping  details  the 
way  our  storms  are  sidling  across  the  continent 
or  rushing  up  our  coasts.  It  prints  the  word  low 
where  the  stormy  area  of  low  barometer  is. 


172     READING  THE  WEATHER 

About  the  low  run  continuous  black  lines  num- 
bered 29.7,  29.8,  29.9,  etc.,  which  show  where  in 
the  country  the  pressures  are  the  same. 

As  the  numbers  run  up  to  30.0,  30.1,  30.2 
they  begin  to  circle  about  the  word  High  which 
denotes  where  the  pressure  is  highest.  Little 
circles  will  be  observed  on  the  map.  Some  are 
clear,  indicating  clear  weather;  others  are  half 
clear,  half  black,  indicating  partly  cloudy  condi- 
tions; others  are  all  black,  showing  clouds; 
others  have  R.  or  S.  inside  them,  telling  where 
it  is  raining.  The  numbers  under  the  circles 
show  how  much  it  has  rained  or  snowed  and  the 
numbers  under  the  other  numbers  are  the  veloci- 
ties of  the  winds.  The  arrows  through  the 
circles  fly  with  the  wind.  A  little  zig-zag  locates 
each  thunderstorm  and  the  shaded  portions  show 
over  what  portions  of  the  country  it  has  rained 
during  the  last  24  hours.  As  an  intelligent  puz- 
zle picture  the  map  is  unequaled  and  no  wonder 
the  child  likes  it. 

With  this  map  you  can  tell  at  a  glance  what 
the  weather  is  doing  to  your  uncle  in  Tacoma 
and  to  your  cousin  in  Missouri.  With  two  suc- 
cessive maps  you  can  find  out  about  how  fast  the 
storms  are  traveling,  in  what  direction,  and  how 
low  the  temperatures  are  under  their  influence, 


THE  WEATHER  BUREAU     173 

and  so  estimate  for  yourself  the  weather  for  the 
next  three  days. 

Besides  the  invaluable  daily  weather  map  the 
Bureau  issues  many  other  maps  that  present  the 
phenomena  of  the  week,  the  month,  and  the  sea- 
son in  graphic  form.  Masters  of  vessels  are 
now  cooperating  with  the  government  to  provide 
observations  at  sea,  and  both  on  our  northwest 
and  southeast  coasts  such  information  is  very 
valuable.  In  the  west  several  hundreds  of  sta- 
tions are  maintained  in  the  mountains  for  the 
purpose  of  obtaining  the  depth  and  content  of 
the  great  snowfalls  there.  Estimates  can  then 
be  given  out  as  to  the  amount  of  water  to  be 
available  for  irrigating  purposes.  In  addition 
to  the  220  stations  of  the  first  class  there  are 
4200  cooperative  stations  at  which  observations 
are  made  and  mailed  to  44  centers  for  distribu- 
tion. 

Special  local  data  help  to  establish  the  rela- 
tions between  climate  and  forestry,  agriculture, 
water  resources,  and  allied  subjects.  Many 
bulletins  are  compiled  by  experts  in  their  re- 
spective lines  and  these  are  for  free  distribution. 
A  study  of  forest  cover  is  being  made  in  Colo- 
rado and  the  effects  of  denudation  on  the  flow  of 
streams  will  soon  be  scientifically  established. 


174     READING  THE  WEATHER 

As  soon  as  practicable  the  Bureau  hopes  to  ex- 
tend its  period  of  forecasting.  Weekly  fore- 
casts have  been  tried  in  a  general  way  with  suc- 
cess, but  long-range  forecasting  depends  upon 
so  many  relationships  of  the  air  that  present 
knowledge  and  facilities  do  not  warrant  its 
adoption. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

A    CHAPTER   OF    EXPLOSIONS 

IN  the  good  old  times  when  a  man  was  born, 
spent  his  life,  and  died  in  the  same  village 
the  weather  proverb  was  fashioned.  Gen- 
erations had  watched  the  clouds  gather  under 
certain  circumstances  and  scatter  under  certain 
others  and  they  naturally  drew  conclusions. 
These  conclusions  crystallized  until  they  resem- 
bled nuggets  of  golden  weather  wisdom.  Some 
were  even  used  as  charms.  And  all  contained 
a  deal  of  truth  so  long  as  they  were  only  meant 
to  refer  to  the  country  in  which  they  had 
originated. 

But  nowadays  when  the  very  idea  of  remain- 
ing in  the  same  place  for  very  long  at  a  time  is 
obnoxious  the  weather  proverb  suffers.  It  suf- 
fers chiefly  by  transportation.  The  weather  in 
County  Cork  is  so  very  different  from  the 
weather  that  makes  Chicago  famous  that  the 
same  weather  lore  does  not  fit.  Yet  it  is  often 
applied.  The  old  truths,  treasured  in  pictur- 
esque phrase  and  jingle,  were  brought  over  the 

175 


176     READING  THE  WEATHER 

ocean  unchanged  and  made  to  do  duty, —  a  case 
of  new  wine  in  old  bottles  again,  for  a  gentle  old 
Irish  proverb  splits  up  the  back  when  it  tries  to 
accommodate  itself  to  a  week  of  our  reckless  but 
magnificent  weather. 

Fairy  stories  are  jewels  to  be  cherished. 
And  it  is  a  careless  and  unimaginative  race  that 
perpetuates  no  legends.  Even  old  saws  are 
quaint  and  should  be  preserved:  "See  a  pin 
and  pick  it  up,  all  the  day  you'll  have  good 
luck."  Let  that  sort  of  thing  go  on  because  it 
adds  richness  to  our  conversation.  But  if  a 
thousand  men,  after  having  picked  up  their 
morning  pins,  sat  around  waiting  for  the  ensu- 
ing luck  the  progress  of  scientific  business  man- 
agement would  be  halted.  And  precisely  that 
way  is  the  knowledge  of  ordinary  weather  facts 
halted, —  a  full-grown  superstition  sits  in  the 
path.  Instead  of  relying  upon  their  eyes  the 
majority  of  people  rely  upon  a  bit  of  doggerel. 
For  example,  millions  of  people  firmly  believe 
that  the  ground-hog  is  a  key  to  the  weather. 
They  say  that  if  the  ground-hog  does  not  see  his 
shadow  on  the  2nd  of  February  that  winter  is 
over! 

This  is  the  sort  of  thing  that  obscures  the  find- 
ings of  science  not  to  mention  common-sense. 
Few  of  these  people  have  ever  seen  a  ground- 


CHAPTER  OF  EXPLOSIONS     177 

hog.  Few  of  the  rest  have  ever  studied  its 
habits.  The  ant,  the  mouse,  the  fly,  the  rat,  and 
the  mosquito  have  far  more  influence  upon  our 
lives  than  the  ground-hog  has  and  the  most  am- 
bitious animal  cannot  expect  to  influence  atmos- 
pheric pressure,  which  is  responsible  for  our 
weather.  Yet  as  often  as  the  2nd  of  February 
comes  around  the  hopes  of  many  are  either  , 
dashed  or  raised  according  to  the  actions  of  this 
creature.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  whether  Febru- 
ary 2nd  is  clear  or  cloudy  can  have  no  influence 
on  the  rest  of  the  winter. 

Almost  all  the  other  proverbs  have  a  basis  of 
reason.  But  this  puts  its  believers  in  the  wrong 
either  way.  If  they  say  that  it  is  the  actions  of 
the  animal  that  they  rely  upon  they  depend  upon 
a  characteristic  thoroughly  and  surely  disproved. 
No  animal,  although  it  may  sense  a  change  in  the 
weather  a  few  hours  in  advance,  is  able  to  feel 
it  for  three  days  ahead  to  say  nothing  of  six 
weeks.  If  these  people  say,  on  the  other  hand, 
that  a  cloudy  February  2nd  means  an  immediate 
and  complete  let  up  of  winter,  or  that  a  clear 
February  2nd  means  a  certain  continuance  of 
cold  weather  for  six  weeks,  they  have  only  to 
trouble  themselves  to  look  at  the  files  of  the 
nearest  Weather  Bureau  for  the  last  forty  years. 
They  will  find  no  connection.  The  trouble  is 


178     READING  THE  WEATHER 

that  they  will  not  look,  but  keep  on  repeating  the 
bit  of  nonsense  and  believing  in  it,  although  the 
strength  of  their  convictions  probably  does  not 
reduce  their  coal-bills. 

The  same  people  are  fond  of  saying  that  the 
first  three  days  of  December  show  what  the  win- 
ter will  be  like.  That  is,  if  the  ist  is  fair  so 
will  December  be;  if  the  2nd  is  cold  so  will 
January  be;  and  if  it  snows  on  the  3rd,  so  will  it 
snow  in  February.  If  all  three  should  be  clear 
and  warm  certainly  a  remarkable  winter  would 
follow !  No  rain,  no  snow,  no  cold !  You  see 
how  absurd  this  superstition  is. 

"  A  dry  moon  lies  on  its  back!  "  After  the 
ground-hog  the  moon  is  supposed  to  have  the 
most  influence  on  our  seasons.  The  Govern- 
ment and  many  scientists  connected  with  no  gov- 
ernments have  made  careful,  exhaustive  and  con- 
clusive investigations.  No  relation  between  the 
moon  and  our  weather  has  been  discovered  ex- 
cept as  she  causes  our  tides  and  they  affect  at- 
mospheric pressure  in  an  infinitesimal  degree. 
We  would  still  have  just  as  much  and  just  as 
variable  weather  if  there  were  no  moon.  The 
weather  changes  with  the  changing  moon,  and 
it  does  not  change  as  the  moon  changes,  and  the 
chances  are  about  even  that  the  times  of  change 
will  coincide.  So  there  is,  therefore,  absolutely 


CHAPTER  OF  EXPLOSIONS     179 

no  foundation  for  the  dozens  of  proverbs  that 
yoke  the  changes  of  the  moon  with  the  changes 
of  our  weather.  Neither  in  science  nor  in  ob- 
servation has  any  sequence  been  deduced. 

So  the  moon  may  lie  on  its  back  or  on  its  side 
or  stand  on  its  head  and  the  weather  will  remain 
dry  if  no  low  pressure  areas  cross  the  country, 
and  it  can  lie  on  its  back  for  days  and  the  coun- 
try be  drowned  out  if  they  do.  There  are 
enough  pretty  things  to  say  about  the  moon, 
anyway,  and  will  be  more  all  the  time  for,  to 
commit  a  paraphrase :  Science  is  stranger  than 
superstition. 

"  It  will  rain  for  forty  days  straight  if  it  rains 
on  St.  Swithin's  Day,"  which,  I  might  as  well  say 
for  the  benefit  of  those  who  don't  know  their 
saints,  falls  on  July  I5th  every  year.  It  would 
be  interesting  to  know  how  many  people  in  a 
hundred  really  believe  this,  or  really  believe  all 
the  other  things  that  are  attributed  to  the  saints, 
—  quite  a  few,  probably.  Luckily  for  St. 
Swithin  July  and  August  are  wet  months,  with 
often  several  days  of  showers  or  thunderstorms 
in  succession.  But  never  once  in  Philadelphia 
has  it  rained  for  forty  days,  one  right  after 
another,  although  half  the  July  I5ths  have  been 
rained  on.  This  proverb  is  one  of  those  that 
had  better  never  been  transplanted  from  its  na- 


180     READING  THE  WEATHER 

tive  Ireland  where  rain  for  40  days  would  excite 
scarcely  a  curse. 

"  Long  and  loud  singing  of  robins  denotes 
rain."  It  does  not.  Oftener  than  not  it  de- 
notes the  time  of  day.  Just  watch  the  robins 
and  listen  to  them  and  see  what  they  do  before 
a  storm,  during  it,  after  it,  and  then  you  will  see 
how  little  the  songs  of  birds  can  be  depended 
upon  to  supplant  the  barometer. 

"  If  March  comes  in  like  a  lion  it  will  go  out 
like  a  lamb,"  and  the  other  way  round.  I  have 
seen  March  come  in  like  a  lion  and  go  out  like 
a  lion,  come  in  like  a  lion  and  go  out  like  a  lamb, 
come  in  like  a  lamb  and  go  out  like  a  lion,  and 
come  in  like  a  lamb  and  go  out  like  a  Noah's  ark. 
But  I  never  have  seen  March  do  anything  de- 
pendable. It  is  quite  impossible  to  tell  how 
March  is  going  out  on  March  2yth,  and  abso- 
lutely impossible  to  tell  on  March  ist. 

But  there  is  this  much  observation  expressed 
in  the  proverb,  that  March  is  so  changeable  that, 
if  it  comes  in  cold,  windy,  unsettled,  there  is  not 
so  much  chance  for  such  weather  still  to  be  going 
on  at  the  end  of  the  month,  and  still  less  in  Eng- 
land where  the  proverb  came  from.  This  is  a 
harmless  proverb  unless  it  should  lead  people  to 
actually  count  upon  a  pleasant  spring  just  be- 
cause March  had  an  unpleasant  inception.  Mis- 


CHAPTER  OF  EXPLOSIONS     181 

fortunes  rarely  come  singly,  even  on  the  weather 
calendar. 

"  When  squirrels  are  scarce  in  autumn  the 
winter  will  be  severe."  Aside  from  the  scien- 
tific truth  that  the  animals  cannot  know  in  ad- 
vance about  the  seasons  there  is  little  evidence 
on  either  side  to  base  a  contention.  Nobody 
has  made  a  squirrel  census;  nobody,  probably, 
has  found  out  whether  they  increase  in  numbers 
for  six  years  and  then  die  off  in  great  quantities 
as  do  the  rabbits  in  the  north  country  on  the 
seventh;  nobody  has  connected  their  apparent 
numbers  year  after  year  with  the  actual  severi- 
ties of  the  winters.  And  so  nobody  has  a  right 
to  promulgate  the  report  (except  as  a  bit  of  non- 
sense like  April  Fool)  that  the  ensuing  winter 
is  going  to  be  a  record  breaker  because  the  squir- 
rels have  disappeared.  It  would  be  far  truer 
to  say  that  u  When  squirrels  are  scarce  in 
autumn  the  hunters  have  been  busy/'  and  let  it 
go  at  that. 

There  are  a  lot  of  proverbs  in  this  connection 
about  goose  bones  and  hickory  nuts  and  wild 
geese,  which  sound  plausible  but  are  never 
proved.  If  the  birds  have  all  the  sense  credited 
to  them  it  is  strange  that  some  allow  themselves 
to  be  caught  by  an  early  snowstorm  in  the  fall 
and  decimated.  Also  it  is  not  uncommon  for 


182     READING  THE  WEATHER 

early  migrations  in  the  spring  to  arrive  in  the 
north  to  be  slain  by  the  thousand  by  a  belated 
blizzard.  It  is  granted  that  animals  and  birds, 
having  a  far  greater  sensitiveness  than  man,  oc- 
casionally sense  a  catastrophe  some  hours  before 
it  is  evidenced  by  any  visual  signs,  but  seasonal 
wisdom  has  not  been  proved  in  any  one  instance 
and  disproved  in  many.  None  of  the  proverbs 
relating  to  the  animals  and  birds  are  to  be  de- 
pended upon.  They  deceive,  much  to  the  regret 
of  all  the  meteorologists  who  would  welcome 
any  genuine  clue  to  nature  of  the  coming  season. 
Any  farmer  would  be  only  too  glad  to  keep  a 
menagerie  of  squirrels  and  wild  geese  and  toads 
if  only  he  might  be  assured  by  them  of  the  com- 
ing seasonal  conditions. 

The  proverbs  given  indicate  the  range,  possi- 
bly, but  certainly  not  the  full  absurdity  of  the 
old  weather  sayings.  There  are  many  other 
proverbs  that  contain  at  least  a  half  truth. 

"  Enough  blue  sky  to  make  a  Dutchman's 
breeches  indicates  clearing,"  is  one  that  is  true  if 
the  wind  has  changed  to  the  west.  If  the  wind 
still  blows  from  an  easterly  quarter  blue  sky  for 
a  Dutchman's  whole  wardrobe  would  not  insure 
clear  weather.  All  sayings  must  be  tested  many 
times  before  they  are  believed  implicitly. 

"  There   is   always  a   thaw  in  January,"   is 


CHAPTER  OF  EXPLOSIONS     183 

about  as  true  a  generalization  as  can  be  made 
about  things  for  which  generalizations  are  never 
strictly  in  place.  Even  in  Canada  the  severity 
of  the  winter  is  often  broken  by  a  spell  of 
warmer  weather  with  a  rain,  perhaps,  in  the  dead 
of  winter.  In  the  United  States  a  winter  with- 
out some  break  in  each  of  the  months  would  be 
a  most  unusual  occurrence.  So  that  it  is  quite 
reasonable  to  expect  the  "  January  thaw  "  any 
time  from  Christmas  until  the  middle  of  Febru- 
ary. 

"  A  late  spring  never  deceives,"  unless  it  is  so 
very  late,  like  the  phenomenal  spring  of  1907, 
that  the  jump  is  made,  perforce,  into  summer. 
That  is  a  cruel  deception.  What  is  meant  of 
course  is  that  if  the  freezing  weather  continues 
consistently,  well  past  the  average,  the  likeli- 
hood of  frost-damage  to  fruit  is  slight.  There 
is  nothing  much  worse  than  for  the  blossoms  to 
be  forced  by  a  period  of  warm  weather  early,  for 
there  is  only  a  slim  chance  that  it  will  continue 
past  the  danger  limit.  It  is  surprising  how  late 
frost  may  occur, —  the  last  date  for  killing  frost 
in  Pennsylvania  is  about  May  loth  on  the  aver- 
age, which  makes  it  possible  till  June. 

'  The  first  robins  indicate  the  approach  of 
spring."  But  certainly  not  its  arrival. 

"If    the    moon    rises     clear    expect     fair 


184     READING  THE  WEATHER 

weather."  Right;  because  if  it  is  summer  even 
the  eastern  horizon  would  show  the  humidity 
necessary  enough  to  cause  a  thunderstorm,  and 
in  winter  the  cirrus  clouds  give  several  hours* 
warning.  But,  again,  the  wind  is  the  chief  fac- 
tor to  be  considered. 

Proverbs,  representing  variations  of  the 
truth,  could  be  given  about  every. manifestation 
of  the  skies  as  well  as  about  things  that  were 
never  manifest  except  in  the  imagination,  for 
every  country  has  contributed  to  the  volume  of 
weather-lore.  But,  unfortunately,  neither  age 
nor  amount  of  repetition  are  as  good  as  the 
truth  and  they  should  be  discarded  if  they  are 
false.  The  way  to  discard  is  not  to  repeat. 

The  man  who  desires  weather-wisdom  should 
seek  it  with  his  eyes.  His  comparison  will  be 
that  which  he  sees  with  that  which  he  has  seen, 
and  he  will  soon  form  all  the  weather  axioms  he 
needs  for  himself.  The  local  Bureau  or  the  Bu- 
reau at  Washington  will  answer  all  his  inquiries, 
cheerfully,  promptly,  and  free  of  charge.  Of 
course  there  are  things  that  the  Bureau  wants  to 
know  itself.  It  is  very  curious  about  the  higher 
strata  of  air.  Small  balloons  have  carried  very 
light  instruments  to  an  altitude  of  fifteen  miles 
and  brought  considerable  knowledge  to  earth, 


CHAPTER  OF  EXPLOSIONS     185 

but  each  bit  makes  more  knowledge  imperative. 

The  cry  of  "  last  frontier  "  hurts  the  adven- 
turous, the  exploring,  the  woods-loving  as  no 
other  cry  has  power  to  hurt.  With  the  Poles 
gone  and  Alaska  in  harness  we  are  inclined  to 
think  that  it  is  all  over.  We  resign  ourselves  to 
our  trammelling  globe, —  as  the  gold-fish  do, — 
forgetting.  But  there  is  plenty  of  interest  left. 
The  birds  must  be  brought  back.  Forests  must 
be  made  and  patrolled,  and  the  air-ocean  is  still 
unknown.  That,  at  any  rate,  has  remained  un- 
spoiled by  man. 

The  seas  have  been  charted  and  the  moun- 
tains have  been  disemboweled,  but  the  atmos- 
phere is  unconquered.  More  must  be  known. 
Squadrons  of  aeroplanes  cannot  ride  out  the  gale 
until  their  pilots  know  all  about  the  gale.  Un- 
til that  time  there  need  be  no  cry  of  last  frontier, 
for  until  that  time  the  weather  will  continue  to 
be  our  overlord,  whose  dominions  are  flaunted 
before  the  watcher  on  the  porch  and  the  runner 
on  the  trail. 

CONDENSATIONS 

Look  for  continued  fair  weather  when : 
A  gentle  wind  blows  from  the  west,  north- 
west, or  a  little  south  of  west. 


186     BEADING  THE  WEATHER 

The  sun  sets  in  a  cloudless  sky. 

The  sunset  is  composed  of  light  tints,  inclin- 
ing to  red  or  yellow. 

The  sunset  is  followed  by  a  glowing  and  slow- 
fading  western  sky. 

The  sun  sets  like  a  ball  of  fire  (warmer). 

The  sun  rises  out  of  a  gray  sky. 

The  clouds  are  noticeably  high  for  the  sea- 
son. 

The  clouds  rise  on  the  mountains. 

The  clouds  have  frequent  breaks  showing 
blue  sky  between. 

The  puffy  cumulus  clouds  show  a  lot  of  white. 

The  cumulus  clouds  decrease  toward  night- 
fall. 

The  winter  sky  is  mottled  with  a  northwest 
wind. 

The  summer  morning  fog  breaks  before  ten 
o'clock. 

The  dawn  is  low. 

The  blue  sky  has  a  tendency  to  show  green 
near  the  northern  horizon  (colder). 

The  sun  breaks  through  a  departing  thunder- 
storm and  makes  a  rainbow. 

Snow-flurries  drift  down  a  north  wind 
(colder). 

Cirrus  clouds,  or  others,  dissolve,  or  cirrus 
have  tails  down. 


CHAPTER  OF  EXPLOSIONS     187 

Spiders  spin  on  the  grass. 

There  is  a  moderate  dew  or  frost. 

The  temperature  is  normal  or  colder  than 
normal,  other  signs  being  right. 

The  sky  is  sown  with  stars. 

The  moon  rises  clear. 

The  wind  blows  down  mountain  ravines  after 
nightfall. 

The  salt  is  dry,  smoke  ascends,  birds  fly  high, 
and  animals  act  normally. 

The  barometer  rises  slowly,  or  is  steady  at  or 
above  30.00. 

No  change  need  be  feared  as  the  anticyclone 
nears,  or  for  three  days  after  clear  conditions 
are  established  so  long  as  the  wind  remains  brisk 
from  some  westerly  quarter.  The  direction  of 
the  wind,  the  kind  of  cloud,  and  the  temperature 
changes  are  the  factors  to  watch  if  you  have  no 
barometer. 

Look  for  a  change  toward  storms  when : 

The  west  wind  suddenly  drops. 

The  west  wind  shifts  to  south  or  northeast. 

The  cirrus  clouds  appear  in  well-organized 
lines. 

The  cirrus  clouds  merge  into  cirro-stratus. 

The  sky  looks  like  fish  scales,  so-called  mack- 
erel sky. 


188     READING  THE  WEATHER 

Light  scud  drifts  across  the  sky  from  east  to 
west. 

The  summer  cumulus  clouds  increase  in  size 
as  the  afternoon  proceeds. 

Walls  grow  damp,  flies  are  more  of  a  burden 
than  usual,  swallows  fly  low. 

Smoke  falls  to  the  ground. 

There  have  been  three  white  frosts. 

A  halo  appears  around  either  the  moon  or 
sun. 

When  sun-dogs  appear  about  the  sun,  denot- 
ing ice-particles  in  the  air. 

The  summer  morning  is  sultry  and  the  wind 
variable. 

The  temperature  is  much  above  the  normal. 

Few  stars  are  visible  and  those  are  indistinct. 
The  clouds  gather  about  the  mountain  tops,  or 
drop  down  the  mountain-sides. 

The  wind  continues  to  blow  up  ravines  after 
nightfall. 

The  sunset  is  a  dull  gray,  or  the  sun  sets  into 
a  livid  cloudbank. 

The  sunrise  is  a  fiery  red,  and  the  dawn  is 
high. 

The  sun  gradually  is  smothered  in  fine-tex- 
tured clouds  and  the  wind  shifts. 

The  temperature  does  not  fall  at  night. 

The  signs  most  to  be  heeded  are  the  shift  of 


CHAPTER  OF  EXPLOSIONS 

wind  to  a  point  east  of  north  or  south,  the  grad- 
ual filming  of  the  sky  with  cirrus  and  cirro- 
stratus,  and  the  increase  of  temperature.  Of 
course,  the  barometer  is  the  best  indicator  of  all. 

Look  for  a  change  toward  clearing  when : 

The  wind  shifts  from  the  easterly  quarter 
into  the  west. 

The  temperature  falls  rapidly. 

The  clouds  rise,  or  break,  or  lighten  percepti- 
bly in  color. 

Patches  of  blue  sky  appear  through  the  rifts 
in  the  clouds,  wind  north. 

Raindrops  grow  smaller  after  the  windshift. 

Snowflakes  drive  less  busily,  float  lazily  down, 
or  thin  out  conspicuously. 

Seams  appear  in  the  clouds,  snow  will  cease 
and  rain  probably. 

The  thunder  and  lightning  occur  only  in  the 
eastern  quarter. 

Permanent  clearing  will  not  be  effected  until 
the  change  of  the  wind  to  the  points  on  the  west- 
ern half  of  the  compass  show  that  the  cy- 
clone has  definitely  passed  to  the  north  or 
south  or  over  the  locality.  In  winter  the  cloud 
covering  may  move  off  slowly,  but  there  will  be 
little  precipitation  after  the  wind  has  reached 
north  or  west.  The  bank  of  cirro-stratus  gets 


190     READING  THE  WEATHER 

thinner  and  the  moon  or  the  sun  gradually  shines 
through.  In  summer  clearing  is  much  more 
abrupt,  as  is  the  clouding  up.  The  ability  to 
sense  accurately  the  moment  when  the  weights 
are  shifted  and  the  change  to  clearing  com- 
mences takes  some  observation  to  acquire,  but 
the  advantage  is  worth  it. 

Rain  (or  snow)  will  fall: 

Within  five  minutes  after  the  arch  of  the  thun- 
dercloud is  seen  to  move  toward  one. 

Within  five  minutes  when  the  curtain  of  fall- 
ing drops  obscures  the  landscape  to  the  west 
of  one. 

Within  a  few  minutes  after  the  bottoms  of 
cumulus  clouds  turn  from  black  to  gray,  letting 
down  visible  trailing  showers. 

Within  a  short  while  after  the  winter  sky  has 
become  uniform  in  color. 

Within  an  hour  after  the  pavement-like,  but 
scarcely  discernible,  thundercloud  consolidates 
along  the  west,  if  the  wind  is  from  the  south- 
west. If  the  wind  is  from  the  southeast  this 
cloud  may  take  four  hours  to  rise. 

From  two  to  eight  hours  after  the  sun  or 
moon  has  vanished  behind  the  cirro-stratus. 

From  eight  to  forty-eight  hours  after  the  first 
cirrus  is  seen,  depending  upon  the  distance  from 
the  sea  and  the  time  of  year. 


CHAPTER  OF  EXPLOSIONS     191 

Every  little  while  from  southwest  showers  in 
the  passing  of  a  summer  low. 

For  about  eight  to  twelve  hours  continuously 
in  a  winter  storm,  and  intermittently  until  the 
wind  swings  west. 

For  a  very  short  while  from  a  thunder  cloud 
rising  on  a  west  wind. 

For  an  hour  or  more  from  a  thundercloud 
that  rises  on  a  southwest  or  southeast  wind. 

The  temperature  will  fall  when : 

A  thunderstorm  breaks,  continuing  low  if  the 
wind  blows  from  the  west  after  clearing. 

Nightfall  approaches  and  the  sky  is  free  from 
clouds. 

The  mercury  remains  at  the  same  level  during 
the  sunny  hours. 

A  cyclone  is  departing  and  the  anticyclone 
moving  in. 

The  wind  swings  north  of  east  in  a  storm, — 
the  fall  will  be  gradual. 

The  wind  swings  west  of  south  in  a  storm, — 
the  fall  will  be  sudden. 

A  snowstorm  begins,  for  a  short  time  only. 

A  cloudy  day  clears  at  sunset. 

Snow  flurries  are  seen. 

The  sky  shows  green  and  the  clouds  look 
hard. 


192     READING  THE  WEATHER 

The  temperature  will  rise  when : 

A  thunderstorm  is  brewing,  or  a  day  or  two 
before  a  winter  cyclone. 

After  a  thunderstorm  if  another  is  to  follow. 

The  morning  is  free  from  clouds  and  if  it  is 
not  the  first  day  of  a  cold  wave. 

The  wind  dips  south  of  west  or  south  of 
northeast,  the  former  shift  bringing  the  more 
sudden  rise. 

The  sun  sets  as  a  ball  of  fire,  at  which  one  can 
easily  look. 

A  snowstorm  gets  under  way,  unless  the  wind 
is  swinging  toward  the  north. 

A  PAGE  OF  PROBLEMS 

One  satisfying  thing  about  meteorology  is 
that  there  is  a  constantly  widening  field  for  con- 
quest. Among  the  questions  that  await  solu- 
tion, are : 

What  are  the  relative  densities  of  clouds? 

What  is  the  original  atmospheric  electricity, 
its  distribution  and  laws  ? 

What  are  the  causes  and  nature  of  precipita- 
tion? 

Will  aerial  ascents  on  all  sides  of  an  atmos- 
pheric disturbance  discover  the  mechanism  of 
storms  ? 


CHAPTER  OF  EXPLOSIONS     193 

What  relations  are  there  of  solar  radiation  to 
our  atmosphere  ? 

What  influence  do  lunar  tides  bear  to  our 
weather? 

On  what  does  the  permanence  of  the  summer 
lows  over  the  Rockies  depend? 

These  questions  are  only  samples.  Many 
certainties  can  be  attained  by  merely  complete 
observations  over  a  longer  period  of  time,  oth- 
ers by  new  systems  of  observations  that  await  a 
more  generous  appropriation.  Even  the  upper 
air  investigations  on  Mt.  Weather,  Va.,  have 
had  to  be  curtailed.  The  Bureau's  record  has 
proved  it  efficient,  of  enormous  benefit  to  the 
country,  and  deserving  of  the  encouragement  in- 
stead of  the  depreciation  of  every  citizen. 

WHAT  THE  WEATHER  FLAGS  MEAN 

In  every  city  the  Bureau  causes  flags  to  be 
flown  from  some  prominent  place  so  that  a 
glance  may  show  shippers  and  everybody  who 
may  be  concerned  at  the  shortest  possible  notice 
just  what  the  approaching  weather  conditions 
are. 

A  plain  white  flag  means  fair  weather. 

A  black  triangle  stands  for  temperature  and 
is  always  exhibited  with  some  other  flag.  Its 
relative  position,  either  above  or  below  indicates 


194     READING  THE  WEATHER 

higher  or  lower  temperature.  Therefore  white 
flag  with  the  black  below  means  fair  and  colder. 
The  white  flag  with  the  black  above  means  fair 
and  warmer. 

A  white  flag  with  a  black  square  in  the  center 
means  a  cold  wave. 

A  blue  flag  means  either  rain  or  snow. 

The  blue  with  the  black  above  would  mean 
rain  or  snow  and  warmer. 

The  blue  with  the  black  below  would  mean 
rain  or  snow  and  colder. 

A  blue  and  white  flag  means  a  local  shower. 
The  same  meanings  are  attached  to  the  black 
triangle  in  connection  with  the  blue  and 
white. 

A  red  triangle  indicates  a  dangerous  local 
storm,  is  called  the  information  flag  meaning 
that  shippers  should  apply  to  the  Bureau  for 
news  of  the  direction  in  which  the  storm  is  trav- 
elling. 

A  red  square  with  a  black  center  means  se- 
vere winds. 

1.  Southwesterly  with  a  white  triangle  below. 

2.  Northwesterly     with     a     white     triangle 
above. 

3.  Northeasterly  with  a  red  triangle  above. 

4.  Southeasterly  with  a  red  triangle  below. 


CHAPTER  OF  EXPLOSIONS     195 

OUR  FOUR  WORLD'S  RECORDS  — 
AND  OTHERS 

Maximum  Temperature 

United  States,  134  at  Greenland  Ranch,  Cal.,  July,  1913. 
World,  134  at  Greenland  Ranch,  Cal. 
Minimum  Temperature 

United  States, —  65  at  Miles  City,  Mont.,  January,  1888. 
World, —  98  at  Verkhojansk,  Siberia. 
Absolute  Zero  of   Space 

—  459  degrees  Fahrenheit. 
Maximum  Annual  Precipitation 

United  States,  167.29  inches  at  Glenora,  Oreg.,  in  1896. 
World,    905.1    inches,    Cherrapunji,    India,    1861. 
Maximum  Monthly  Precipitation 

United  States,  71.5  inches  at  Helen  Mine,  Cal.,  January, 

1909. 

World,  366  inches,  Cherrapunji,  India,  July,  1861. 
Maximum  24  Hour  Precipitation 

United  States,  21   inches  at  Alexandria,  La. 
Minimum  Annual  Precipitation 

United  States,  none  at  Bagdad,  Cal.,  in  1913.     (Only  3.93 
inches  fell  at  Bagdad  during  period  1909  to  1913,  inclu- 
sive.) 
Maximum  Annual  Snowfall 

United  States,  786  inches  at  Tamarack,  Cal.,  1911. 
Maximum  Monthly  Snowfall 

United    States,    390   inches    at   Tamarack,    Cal.,    January, 

1911. 
Maximum  Wind  Velocity 

United  States,  186  miles  per  hour  at  Mt.  Washington,  on 
Jan.  ii,  1878.  (Much  higher  velocities  have  undoubt- 
edly occurred  in  tornadoes,  etc.,  but  have  not  been  sus- 
ceptible of  instrumental  measurement.) 


THE    END 


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Renovating  Old  Orchards — The  Cost  of  Growing  Apples. 

5.  THE  AIREDALE,  by  Williams  Haynes.    The 
book  opens  with  a  short  chapter  on  the  origin  and  development  of 
the  Airedale,  as  a  distinctive  breed.    The  author  then  takes  np  the 
problems  of  type  as  bearing  on  the  selection  of  the  dog,  breeding, 
training  and  use.   The  book  is  designed  for  the  non-professional  dog 
fancier,  who  wishes  common  sense  advice  which  does  not  involve 
elaborate  preparations  or  expenditure.   Chapters  are  included  on  the 
care  of  the  dog  in  the  kennel  and  simple  remedies  for  ordinary 
diseases. 


OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY— NEW  YORK 

6.  THE  AUTOMOBILE.—Its   selection,    Care   and 
Use,  by  Robert  Sloss.     This  is  a  plain,  practical  discussion  of 
tlie  things  that  every  man  needs  to  know  if'  he  is  to  buy  the  right  car 
and  get  the  most  out  of  it.    The  various  details  of  operation  and 
care  are  given  in  simple,  intelligent  terms.    From  it  the  car  owner 
can  easily  learn  the  mechanism  of  his  motor  and  the  art  of  locating 
motor  trouble,  as  well  as  how  to  use  his  car  for  the  greatest  pleasure. 
A  chapter  is  included  on  building  garages. 

7.  FISHING     KITS     AND     EQUIPMENT,    by 

Samuel  G.  Camp.  A  complete  guide  to  the  angler  buying  a  new 
outfit.  Every  detail  of  the  fishing  kit  of  the  freshwater  angler  is  de- 
scribed, from  rodtip  to  creel,  and  clothing.  Special  emphasis  is  laid 
on  outfitting  for  fly  fishing,  but  full  instruction  is  also  given  to  the 
man  who  wants  to  catch  pickerel,  pike,  muskellunge,  lake-trout,  bass 
and  other  freshwater  game  fishes.  Prices  are  quoted  for  all  articles 
recommended  and  the  approved  method  of  selecting  and  testing  the 
various  rods,  lines,  leaders,  etc.,  is  described. 


8.    THE  FINE  ART  OF  FISHING,  by  Samuel  G. 

Camp.  Combine  the  pleasure  of  catching  fish  with  the  gratification 
of  following  the  sport  in  the  most  approved  manner.  The  sugges- 
tions offered  are  helpful  to  beginner  and  expert  anglers.  The  range 
of  fish  and  fishing  conditions  covered  is  wide  and  includes  such  sub- 
jects as  "Casting  Fine  and  Far  Off,"  "Strip-Casting  for  Bass,"  Tish- 
ing  for  Mountain  Trout"  and  "Autumn  Fishing  for  Lake  Trout." 
The  book  is  pervaded  with  a  spirit  of  love  for  the  streamside  and 
the  out-doors  generally  which  the  genuine  angler  will  appreciate. 
A  companion  book  to  "Fishing  Kits  and  Equipment."  The  advice 
on  outfitting  so  capably  given  in  that  book  is  supplemented  in  this 
later  work  by  equally  valuable  information  on  how  to  use  the 
equipment. 

?  9.  THE  HORSE— Its  Breeding,  Care'and  Use,  by 
David  Buffum.  Mr.  Buffum  takes  up  the  common,  every-day 
problems  of  the  ordinary  horse-users,  such  as  feeding,  shoeing, 
simple  home  remedies,  breaking  and  the  cure  for  various  equine 
vices.  An  important  chapter  is  that  tracing  the  influx  of  Arabian 
blood  into  the  English  and  American  horses  and  its  value  and  limi- 
tations. Chapters  are  included  on  draft-horses,  carriage  horses,  and 
the  development  of  the  two-minute  trotter.  It  is  distinctly  a  sensible 
book  for  the  sensible  man  who  wishes  to  know  how  he  can  improve 
his  horses  and  his  horsemanship  at  the  same  time. 


OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY— Nh  W  YORK 

10.  THE  MOTOR  BOAT— Its  Selection,  Care  and 
Use,  by  H.  W.  Slauson.     The  intending  purchaser  ia  advised 
as  to  the  type  of  motor  boat  best  suited  to  his  particular  needs  and 
how  to  keep  it  in  running  condition  after  purchased.    The  chapter 
headings  are:   Kinds  and  Uses  of  Motor  Boats — When  the  Motor 
Balks — Speeding  of  the  Motor  Boat — Getting  More  Power  from  a 
New  Motor — How  to  Install  a  Marine  Power  Plant — Accessories — 
Covers,  Canopies  and  Tops — Camping  and  Cruising — The  Boathouse. 

11.  OUTDOOR  SIGNALLING,  by  Elbert  Wells. 

Mr.  Wells  has  perfected  a  method  of  signalling  hy  means  of  wig- 
wag, light,  smoke,  or  whistle  which  is  as  simple  as  it  is  effective. 
The  fundamental  principle  can  bo  learned  in  ten  minutes  and  its 
application  is  far  easier  than  that  of  any  other  code  now  in  use. 
It  permits  also  the  use  of  cipher  and  can  be  adapted  to  almost  any 
imaginable  conditions  of  weather,  light,  or  topography. 

12.  TRACKS  AND  TRACKING,  by  Josef  Brunner. 

After  twenty  years  of  patient  study  and  practical  experience,  Mr. 
Brunner  can,  from  his  intimate  knowledge,  speak  with  authority  on 
this  subject.  "Tracks  and  Tracking"  shows  how  to  follow  intelli- 
gently even  the  most  intricate  animal  or  bird  tracks.  It  teaches  how 
to  interpret  tracks  of  wild  game  and  decipher  the  many  tell-tale 
signs  of  the  chase  that  would  otherwise  pass  unnoticed.  It  proves 
how  it  is  possible  to  tell  from  the  footprints  the  name,  sex,  speed, 
direction,  whether  and  how  wounded,  and  many  other  things  about 
wild  animals  and  birds.  All  material  has  been  gathered  first  hand; 
the  drawings  and  half-tones  from  photographs  form  an  important 
part  of  die  work. 


13.    WING  AND  TRAP-SHOOTING,  by  Charles 

Askins.  Contains  a  full  discussion  of  the  various  methods, 
such  as  snap-shooting,  swing  and  half-swing,  discusses  the  flight  of 
birds  with  reference  to  the  gunner's  problem  of  lead  and  range  and 
makes  special  application  of  ,the  various  points  to  the  different  birds 
commonly  shot  in  this  country.  A  chapter  is  included  on  trap 
shooting  and  the  book  closes  with  a  forceful  and  common-sense 
presentation  of  the  etiquette  of  the  field. 


OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY— NEW  YORK 

14.  PROFITABLE  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY,  by 

Arthur  S.  Wheeler.  Mr.  Wheeler  discusses  from  personal  ex- 
perience the  J>est-known  general  purpose  breeds.  Advice  is  given 
from  the  standpoint  of  the*man  who  desires  results  in  eggs  and  stock 
rather  than  in  specimens  for  exhibition.  In  addition  to  a  careful 
analysis  of  stock — good  and  bad — and  some  conclusions  regarding 
housing  and  management,  the  author  writes  in  detail  regarding 
Plymouth  Rocks,  Wyandottes,  Orpingtons,  Rhode  Island  Reds, 
Mediterraneans  and  the  Cornish. 

15.  RIFLES  AND  RIFLE  SHOOTING,  by  Charles 

Askins.  A  practical  manual  describing  various  makes  and  mechan- 
isms, in  addition  to  discussing  in  detail  the  range  and  limitations  in 
the  use  of  the  rifle.  Treats  on  the  every  style  and  make  of  rifle 
as  well  as  their  use.  Every  type  of  rifle  is  discussed  eo  that  the 
book  is  complete  in  every  detail. 

16.  SPORTING  FIREARMS,  by  Horace  Kephart. 

This  book  is  the  result  of  painstaking  tests  and  experiments.  Prac- 
tically nothing  is  taken  for  granted.  Part  I  deals  with  the  rifle,  and 
Part  II  with  the  shotgun.  The  man  seeking  guidance  in  the  selec- 
tion and  use  of  small  firearms,  as  well  as  the  advanced  student  of 
the  subject,  will  receive  an  unusual  amount  of  assistance  from  this 
work.  The  chapter  headings  are:  Rifles  and  Ammunition — The 
Flight  of  Bullets— Killing  Power— Rifle  Mechanism  and  Materials- 
Rifle  Sights— Triggers  and  Stocks— Care  of  Rifle— Shot  Patterns  and 
Penetration — Gauges  and  Weights — Mechanism  and  Build  of 
Shotguns. 

17.  THE  YACHTSMAN'S  HANDBOOK,  by  Herbert 

L.  Stone.  The  author  and  compiler  of  this  work  is  the  editor  of 
**  Yachting."  He  treats  in  simple  language  of  the  many  problems 
confronting  the  amateur  sailor  and  motor  boatman.  Handling 
ground  tackle,  handling  lines,  taking  soundings,  the  use  of  the  lead 
line,  care  and  use  of  sails,  yachting  etiquette,  are  all  given  careful 
attention.  Some  light  is  thrown  upon  the  operation  of  the  gasoline 
motor,  and  suggestions  are  made  for  the  avoidance  of  engine 
troubles. 

18.  SCOTTISH  AND  IRISH  TERRIERS,  by  Wil- 

Hams  Haynes.  This  is  a  companion  book  to  "The  Airedale," 
and  deals  with  the  history  and  development  of  both  breeds.  For 
the  owner  of  the  dog,  valuable  information  is  given  as  to  the  use  of 
the  terriers,  their  treatment  in  health,  their  treatment  when  sick, 
the  principles  of  dog  breeding,  and  dog  shows  and  rules. 


OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY— NEW  YORK: 

19.  NAVIGATION  FOR  THE  AMATEUR,  by  Capt. 

E.  T.  Morton.  A  short  treatise  on  the  simpler  methods  of  find- 
ing position  at  sea  by  the  observation  of  the  sun's  altitude  and  the 
use  of  the  sextant  and  chronometer.  It  is  arranged  especially  for 
yachtsmen  and  amateurs  who  wish  to  know  the  simpler  formulae 
for  the  necessary  navigation  involved  in  taking  a  boat  anywhere  off 
shore.  Illustrated  with  drawings.  Chapter  headings :  Fundamental 
Terms—Time— The  Sumner  Line— The  Day's  Work,  Equal  Altitude, 
and  Ex-Meridian  Sights — Hints  on  Taking  Observations. 

20.  OUTDOOR  PHOTOGRAPHY,  by  Julian  A. 

1  Jimoek,  A  solution  of  all  the  problems  in  camera  work  out-of- 
doors.  The  various  subjects  dealt  with  are :  The  Camera — Lens  and 
Plates — Light  and  Exposure— Development— Prints  and  Printing — 
Composition — Landscapes — Figure  Work — Speed  Photography — The 
Leaping  Tarpon — Sea  Pictures— In  the  Good  Old  Winter  Time — 
Wild  Life. 

21.  PACKING    AND    PORTAGING,    by    Dillon 

Wallace.  Mr.  Wallace  has  brought  together  in  one  volume  all 
the  valuable  information  on  the  different  ways  of  making  and  carry, 
ing  the  different  kinds  of  packs.  The  ground  covered  ranges  from 
man-packing  to  horse-packing,  from  the  use  of  the  tump  line  to 
throwing  the  diamond  hitch. 

22.  THE  BULL  TERRIER,  by  Williams  Haynes. 

This  is  a  companion  book  to  "The  Airedale"  and  "Scottish  and  Irish 
Terriers"  by  the  same  author.  Its  greatest  usefulness  is  as  a  guide 
to  the  dog  owner  who  wishes  to  be  his  own  kennel  manager.  A  full 
account  of  the  development  of  the  breed  is  given  with  a  description 
of  best  types  and  standards.  Recommendations  for  the  care  of 
the  dog  in  health  or  sickness  are  included.  The  chapter  heads 
cover  such  matters  as: — The  Bull  Terrier's  History — Training  the 
Bull  Terrier— The  Terrier  in  Health— Kenneling— Diseases. 


OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY— NEW  YORK 

23.  THE  FOX  TERRIER,  by  Williams  Haynes. 

As  in  his  other  books  on  the  terrier,  Mr.  Haynes  takes  up  the  origin 
and  history  of  the  breed,  its  types  and  standards,  and  the  more  ex- 
clusive representatives  down  to  the  present  time.  Training  the  Fox 
Terrier — His  Care  and  Kenneling  in  Sickness  and  Health — and  the 
Various  Uses  to  Which  He  Can  Be  Put — are  among  the  phases 
handled. 

24.  SUBURBAN    GARDENS,    by    Grace   Tabor. 

Illustrated  with  diagrams.  The  author  regards  the  house  and 
grounds  as  a  complete  unit  and  shows  how  the  best  results  may  be 
obtained  by  carrying  the  reader  in  detail  through  the  various  phases 
of  designing  the  garden,  with  the  levels  and  contours  necessary, 
laying  out  the  walks  and  paths,  planning  and  placing  the  arbors, 
summer  houses,  seats,  etc.,  and  selecting  and  placing  trees,  shrubs, 
vines  and  flowers.  Ideal  plans  for  plots  of  various  sizes  are  appended, 
as  well  as  suggestions  for  correcting  mistakes  that  have  been  made 
through  "starting  wrong." 


25.  FISHING    WITH    FLOATING    FLIES,   by 

Samuel  G.  Camp.  This  is  an  art  that  is  comparatively  new  in 
this  country  although  English  anglers  have  used  the  dry  fly  for 
generations.  Mr.  Camp  has  given  the  matter  special  study  and  is 
one  of  the  few  American  anglers  who  really  understands  the  matter 
from  the  selection  of  the  outfit  to  the  landing  of  the  fish.  His  book 
takes  up  the  process  in  that  order,  namely — How  to  Outfit  for  Dry 
Fly  Fishing— How,  Where,  and  When  to  Cast— The  Selection  and 
Use  of  Floating  Flies — Dry  Fly  Fishing  for  Brook,  Brown  and 
Rainbow  Trout — Hooking,  Playing  and  Landing— Practical  Hints  on 
Dry  Fly  Fishing. 

26.  THE  GASOLINE  MOTOR,  by  Harold  Whiting 

Slauson .  Deals  with  the  practical  problems  of  motor  operation. 
The  standpoint  is  that  of  the  man  who  wishes  to  know  how  and 
why  gasoline  generates  power  and  something  about  the  various 
types.  Describes  in  detail  the  different  parts  of  motors  and  the 
faults  to  which  they  are  liable.  Also  gives  full  directions  as  to  re- 
pair and  upkeep.  Various  chapters  deal  with  Types  of  Motors — 
Valves  —  Bearings  —  Ignition — Carburetors  — -  Lubrication —  Fuel  — 
Two  Cycle  Motors. 


OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY— NEW  YORK 

27.  ICE  BOATING,  by  H.  L.  Stone,    illustrated  with 

diagrams.  Here  have  been  brought  together  all  the  available  in- 
formation on  the  organization  and  history  of  ice-boating,  the  build- 
ing of  the  various  types  of  ice  yachts,  from  the  small  15  footer  to 
the  600-foot  racer,  together  with  detailed  plans  and  specifications. 
Full  information  is  also  given  to  meet  the  needs  of  those  who  wish 
to  be  able  to  build  and  sail  their  own  boats  but  are  handicapped  by 
the  lack  of  proper  knowledge  as  to  just  the  points  described  in  this 
volume. 

28.  MODERN  GOLF,  by  Harold  H.  Hilton.    Mr. 

Hilton  is  the  only  man  who  has  ever  held  the  amateur  champion- 
ship of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  in  the  same  year.  In 
addition  to  this,  he  has,  for  years,  been  recognized  as  one  of  the 
most  intelligent,  steady  players  of  the  game  in  England.  This  book 
is  a  product  of  his  advanced  thought  and  experience  and  gives  the 
reader  sound  advice,  not  so  much  on  the  mere  swinging  of  the  clubs 
as  in  the  actual  playing  of  the  game,  with  all  the  factors  that  enter 
into  it.  He  discusses  the  use  of  wooden  clubs,  the  choice  of  clubs, 
the  art  of  approaching,  tournament  play  as  a  distinct  thing  in  itself, 
and  kindred  subjects. 

29.  INTENSIVE  FARMING,  by  L.   C.   Corbett. 

A  discussion  of  the  meaning,  method  and  value  of  intensive  methods 
in  agriculture.  This  book  is  designed  for  the  convenience  of  prac- 
tical farmers  who  find  themselves  under  the  necessity  of  making  a 
living  out  of  high-priced  land. 

30.  PRACTICAL  DOG  BREEDING,  by  Williams 

Haynes.  This  is  a  companion  volume  to  PRACTICAL  DOG 
KEEPING,  described  below.  It  goes  at  length  into  the  funda- 
mental questions  of  breeding,  such  as  selection  of  types  on  both 
sides,  the  perpetuation  of  desirable,  and  the  elimination  of  undesir- 
able, qualities,  the  value  of  prepotency  in  building  up  a  desired 
breed,  etc.  The  arguments  are  illustrated  with  instances  of  what 
has  been  accomplished,  both  good  and  bad,  in  the  case  of  well- 
known  breeds. 

31.  PRACTICAL   DOG  KEEPING,  by  Williams 

Haynes.  Mr.  Haynes  is  well  known  to  the  readers  of  the  OUTING 
HANDBOOKS  as  the  author  of  books  on  the  terriers.  His  new 
book  is  somewhat  more  ambitious  in  that  it  carries  him  into  the 
general  field  of  selection  of  breeds,  the  buying  and  selling  of  dogs, 
the  care  of  dogs  in  kennels,  handling  in  bench  shows  and  field  trials, 
and  at  considerable  length  into  such  subjects  as  food  and  feeding, 
exercise  and  grooming,  disease,  etc. 


OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY-NEW  YORK 


32.  THE  VEGETABLE  GARDEN,  by  R.  L.  Watts. 

This  book  ia  designed  for  the  small  grower  with  a  limited  plot  of 
ground.  The  reader  is  told  what  types  of  vegetables  to  select,  the 
manner  of  planting  and  cultivation,  and  the  returns  that  may  be 
expected. 

33.  AMATEUR  RODMAKING,  by  Perry  D.  Frazer. 

Illustrated.  A  practical  manual  for  all  those  who  want  to  make 
their  own  rod  and  fittings.  It  contains  a  review  of  fishing  rod  his- 
tory, a  discussion  of  materials,  a  list  of  the  tools  needed,  description 
of  the  method  to  be  followed  in  making  all  kinds  of  rods,  including 
fly-casting,  bait-fishing,  ealiaon,  etc.,  with  full  instructions  for  wind- 
ing, varnishing,  etc. 

34.  PISTOL  AND  REVOLVER  SHOOTING,  by  A.  L. 

A.  Himmelwrigllt.  A  new  and  revised  edition  of  a'work  that  has 
already  achieved  prominence  as  an  accepted  authority  on  the  use  of 
the  hand  gun.  Full  instructions  are  given  in  the  use  of  both  revolver 
and  target  pistol,  including  shooting  position,  grip,  position  of  arm,  etc. 
The  book  is  thoroughly  illustrated  with  diagrams  and  photographs 
and  includes  the  .rules  of  the  United  States  Revolver  Association 
and  a  list  of  the  records  made  both  here  and  abroad. 

35.  PIGEON  RAISING,  by  Alice  MacLeod.    This 

is  a  book  for  both  fancier  and  market  breeder.  Full  descriptions 
are  given  of  the  construction  of  houses,  the  care  of  the  birds,  pre- 
paration for  market,  and  shipment.  Descriptions  of  the  various 
breeds  with  their  markings  and  characteristics  are  given.  Illustrated 
with  photographs  and  diagrams. 

36.  FISHING  TACKLE,  by  Perry  D.  Frazer.    Il- 
lustrated.    The  subtitle  is  descriptive.    "Hints  for  Beginners  in 
the  Selection,  Care,  and  Use  of  Rods,  Reels,  Lines,  etc."    It  tells  all 
the  fisherman  needs  to  know  about  making  and  overhauling  his 
tackle  during  the  closed  season  and  gives  full  instructions  for  tour- 
nament casting  and  fly-casting.    Chapters  are  included  on  cases  and 
holders  for  the  care  of  tackle  when  not  in  use. 


OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY— NEW  YORK 

37.  AUTOMOBILE     OPERATION,    by    A.    L. 

Brennan,  Jr.  Illustrated.  Tells  the  plain  truth  about  the  little 
things  that  every  motorist  wants  to  know  about  his  own  car.  Do 
you  want  to  cure  ignition  troubles?  Overhaul  and  adjust  your 
carbureter?  Keep  your  transmission  in  order?  Get  the  maximum 
wear  out  of  your  tires?  Do  any  other  of  the  hundred  and  one 
things  that  are  necessary  for  the  greatest  use  and  enjoyment  of  your 
car?  Then  you  will  find  this  book  useful. 

38.  THE  FOX  HOUND,  by  Roger  D.  Williams. 
Author  of  "Horse  and  Hound".    Illustrated.    The  author  is 
the  foremost  authority  on  fox  hunting  and  foxhound*  in  America. 
For  years  he  has  kept  the  foxhound  studbook,  and  is  the  final  source 
of  information  on  all  disputed  points  relating  to  this  breed.     His 
book  discusses  types,  methods  of  training,  kenneling,  diseases  and 
all  the  other  practical  points  relating  to  the  use  and  care  of  the 
hound.     An  appendix  is  added  containing  the  rules  and  regulations 
of  hound  field  trials. 

39.  SALT  WATER  GAME  FISHING,  by  Charles 

F.  Holder.  Mr.  Holder  covers  the  whole  field  of  his  subject 
devoting  a  chapter  each  to  such  fish  as  the  tuna,  the  tarpon,  amber- 
jack,  the  sail  fish,  the  yellow-tail,  the  king  fish,  the  barracuda,  the 
sea  bass  and  the  small  game  fishes  of  Florida,  Porto  Rico,  the  Pacific 
Coast,  Hawaii,  and  the  Philippines.  The  habits  and  habitats  of  the 
fish  are  described,  together  with  the  methods  and  tackle  for  taking 
them.  The  book  concludes  with  an  account  of  the  development 
and  rules  of  the  American  Sea  Angling  Clubs.  Illustrated. 

40.  WINTER  CAMPING,  by  Warwick  S.  Carpenter. 

A  book  that  meets  the  increasing  interest  in  outdoor  life  in  the  cold 
weather.  Mr.  Carpenter  discusses  such  subjects  as  shelter  equipment, 
clothing,  food,  snowshoeing,  skiing,  and  winter  hunting,  wild  life  in 
winter  woods,  care  of  frost  bite,  etc.  It  is  based  on  much  actual  ex- 
perience in  winter  camping  and  is  fully  illustrated  with  working 
photographs. 

41.  WOODCRAFT  FOR  WOMEN,  by  Mrs.  Kath- 

rene  Gedney  Pinkerton.  The  author  has  spent  several  years  in 
the  Canadian  woods  and  is  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  subject  from 
both  the  masculine  and  feminine  point  of  view.  She  gives  sound 
tips  on  clothing,  camping  outfit,  food  supplies,  and  methods,  by 
which  the  woman  may  adjust  herself  to  the  outdoor  environment. 

42.  SMALL  BOAT  BUILDING,  by  H.  W.  Patterson. 

Illustrated  with  diagrams  and  plans.  A  working  manual  for  the  man 
who  wants  to  be  his  own  designer  and  builder.  Detail  descriptions 
and  drawings  are  given  showing  the  various  stages  in  the  building, 
and  chapters  are  included  on  proper  materials  and  details. 


OUTING    PUBLISHING    COMPANY— NEW    YORK 

43.  *READING  THE   WEATHER,  by  T.  Morris 

LongStreth.  The  author  gives  in  detail  the  various  recognized 
signs  for  different  kinds  of  weather  based  primarily  on  the  material 
worked  out  by  the  Government  Weather  Bureau,  gives  rules  by 
which  the  character  and  duration  of  storms  may  be  estimated,  and 
gives  instructions  for  sensible  use  of  the  barometer.  He  also  gives 
useful  information  as  to  various  weather  averages  for  different  parts 
of  the  country,  at  different  times  of  the  year,  and  furnishes  sound 
advice  for  the  camper,  sportsman,  and  others  who  wish  to  know  what 
they  may  expect  in  the  weather  line. 

44.  BOXING,  by  D.  C.  Hutchison,  ^practical  in- 

stmction  for  men  who  wish  to  learn  the  first  steps*  in  the  manly 
art.  Mr.  Hutchison  writes  from  long  personal  experience  as  an 
amateur  boxer  and  as  a  trainer  of  other  amateurs.  His  instructions 
are  accompanied  with  full  diagrams  showing  the  approved  blows 
and  guards.  He  also  gives  full  directions  for  training  for  condition 
without  danger  of  going  stale  from  overtraining.  It  is  essentially  a 
book  for  the  amateur  who  boxes  for  sport  and  exercise. 

45.  TENNIS  TACTICS,  by  Raymond  D.  Little. 

Out  of  his  store  of  experience  as  a  successful  tennis  player,  Mr. 
Little  has  written  this  practical  guide  for  those  who  wish  to  know 
how  real  tennis  is  played.  He  tells  the  reader  when  and  how  to 
take  the  net,  discusses  the  relative  merits  of  the  back-court  and 
volleying  game  and  how  their  proper  balance  may  be  achieved; 
analyzes  and  appraises  the  twist  service,  shows  the  fundamental 
necessities  of  successful  doubles  play. 

46.  *HOWTO  PLAY  TENNIS,  by  James  Burns. 

This  book  gives  simple,  direct  instruction  from  the  professional 
standpoint  on  the  fundamentals  of  the  game.  It  tells  the  reader  how 
to  hold  his  racket,  how  to  swing  it  for  the  various  strokes,  how  to 
stand  and  how  to  cover  the  court.  These  points  are  illustrated  with 
photographs  and  diagrams.  The  author  also  illustrates  the  course 
of  the  ball  in  the  progress  of  play  and  points  out  the  positions  of 
greatest  safety  and  greatest  danger. 

47.  TAXIDERMY,  by  Leon  L.  Pray,   ninstratedwith 

diagrams.  Being  a  practical  taxidermist,  the  author  at  once  goes  into 
the  question  of  selection  of  tools  and  materials  for  the  various  stages 
of  skinning,  stuffing  and  mounting.  The  subjects  whose  handling 
is  described  are,  for  the  most  part,  the  every-day  ones,  such  as 
ordinary  birds,  small  mammals,  etc.,  although  adequate  instructions 
are  included  for  mounting  big  game  specimens,  as  well  as  the  pre- 
liminary care  of  ekina  in  hot  climates.  Full  diagrams  accompany 
the  text. 


OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY— NEW  YORK 

48.  THE  CANOE— ITS  SELECTION,  CARE  AND 
USE,  by  Robert  E.  Pinkerton.  Illustrated  with  photographs, 
With  proper  use  the  canoe  is  one  of  the  eafesti  crafts  that  floats. 
Mr.  Pinkerton  tells  how  that  state  of  safety  may  be  obtained.    He 
gives  full  instructions  for  the  selection  of  the  right  canoe  for  each 
particular  purpose  or  set  of  conditions.    Then  he  tells  how  it  should 
he  used  in  order  to  secure  the  maximum  of  safety,  comfort  and  use- 
fulness.   His  own  lesson  was  learned  among  the  Indians  of  Canada, 
where  paddling  is  a  high  art,  and  the  use  of  the  canoe  almost  as 
much  a  matter  of  course  as  the  wearing  of  moccasins. 

49.  HORSE    PACKING,     by    Charles    J.    Post. 

Illustrated  with  diagrams.  This  is  a  complete  description  of  the 
hitches,  knots,  and  apparatus  used  in  making  and  carrying  loads  of 
various  kinds  on  horseback.  Its  basis  is  the  methods  followed  in  the 
West  and  in  the  American  Army.  The  diagrams  are  full  and  detailed, 
giving  the  various  hitches  and  knots  at  each  of  the  important  stages 
so  that  even  the  novice  can  follow  and  use  them.  It  is  the  only 
book  ever  published  on  this  subject  of  which  this  could  be  said. 
Full  description  is  given  of  the  ideal  pack  animal,  as  well  as  a  cata- 
logue of  the  diseases  and  injuries  to  which  such  animals  are  subject. 

51.  *LEARMNG  TO  SKATE,  by  J.F.Verne.     The 

general  problem  of  the  art  of  skating  is  taken  up  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  man  or  woman  who  puts  on  skates  for  the  first  time.  Funda- 
mental rules  are  laid  down  for  learning  the  simpler  strokes,  carrying 
the  reader  on  through  to  speed  and  fancy  skating.  Advice  is  in- 
eluded  on  the  proper  skates  and  clothing. 

52.  *TOURING  AFOOT,  by  Dr.  C.  P.  Fordyce. 

Illustrated.  This  book  is  designed  to  meet  the  growing  interest  in 
walking  trips  and  covers  the  whole  field  of  outfit  and  method  for  trips 
of  varying  length.  Various  standard  camping  devices  are  described 
and  outfits  are  prescribed  for  all  conditions.  It  is  based  on  the 
assumption  that  the  reader  will  want  to  carry  on  his  own  back  every- 
thing that  he  requires  for  the  trip. 

53.  *THE    MARINE    MOTOR,    by    Lieut. 

Frank  W.  Sterling,  U.  S.  N.  Illustrated  with  diagrams. 
This  book  is  the  product  of  a  wide  experience  on  the  engineering 
staff  of  the  United  States  Navy.  It  gives  careful  descriptions  of 
the  various  parts  of  the  marine  motor,  their  relation  to  the  whole  and 
their  method  of  operation ;  it  also  describes  the  commoner  troubles 
and  suggests  remedies.  The  principal  types  of  engines  are  described 
in  detail  with  diagrams.  The  object  is  primarily  to  give  the  novice 
a  good  working  knowledge  of  his  engine,  its  operation  and  care. 


THIS 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


